Interdimensional
by Almiaranger
Summary: Two pokéfans finally get the chance of a lifetime: a year-long adventure in the pokémon region of Sinnoh. Of course, this adventure isn't without a price. If they can't gather all the elemental plates of Arceus and summon Cresselia, their world is doomed to live under Darkrai's eternal nightmare. Are they willing to make deals with sinister forces in Sinnoh to save Earth?
1. It's the end of the world as we know it

"If I see one more Pidgey in this goddamn park, I'm burning this place to the fucking ground. Maybe then I'll finally find some fire types!" Tapping on the screen to engage it in battle, I swiped a Poké Ball forward and captured it on my first try. Not that I needed it– Pokémon Go's biggest fault was the sheer volume of Pidgey and Rattata dominating the game.

"Burning down this place isn't gonna help anyone. And hey, at least you only need to catch three Pidgey to evolve one. It's easy XP, really," said John, who was currently seated next to me on the rickety park bench.

"That's true, but I could be catching Pidgey literally anywhere," I paused to wipe beads of sweat that dripped down my face, "but that isn't the reason we came out in this damn heat wave. Where are the fire types? It's gotta be hotter than ninety out."

John sighed, taking a swig from his near empty water bottle. "You know fire types are rare around here- this is a park, not a volcano."

"Okay, valid point. But we're practically wasting our lure module on all these fucking Pidgey. Can we just go back to your house when the lure wears off? I'd rather battle you in an air conditioned house than look for useless Pidgey and Rattata in the heat."

"Fine, fine. You brought your DS, then?" John said, tapping at his phone's screen to catch yet another Pidgey.

"Of course! I brought most of my games, actually. I finished another run-through of Platinum the other day, by the way." A fond smile graced my face as I recounted my recent journey, and I could see John beaming as well.

"Do you remember when we first played it way back in third grade, Ang?"

The heat partially forgotten, I reminisced on my first Pokémon experience that began nearly a decade ago. I rarely listened to the directions other characters gave me. I didn't know how to use HM Fly. I didn't even know how to use the storage system, so I was eternally stuck with my starter Piplup and other early game Pokémon. Despite all that, I had a damn good time playing my first Pokémon game, especially when I found out John also played Pokémon all that time ago.

"Yeah, I do. And about that battle- how about we use Gen 4 games, you know, for old times' sake. If you have a team ready, that is."

"I think I can scrape something together, just for you." A competitive glint showed in John's eyes. It was always a good battle if John was involved, and the fact that it involved Gen 4 this time probably made him even more excited.

John glanced down at his phone again to see that there were no longer pink petals flowing down from the Poké Stop we were next to. "Looks like our lure has worn off," he pointed out, "Ready to get going?"

"Yeah."

My mood had improved drastically at the prospect of an epic battle in the near future. I was itching to test out my team against a real person for once, not another NPC.

Throwing my water bottle and portable charger in my backpack, I got up from the bench and strolled over to John who was up ahead of me. Checking my watch, I grimaced as sweat made it slip around with the flick of my wrist- this humidity was gross and I wanted to get out of it.

Once I was next to John, I casually mentioned, "So, I used Chimchar in my Platinum run-through for once."

"Oh, really? I figured you'd die before picking a starter other than Piplup."

That drew a chuckle from me. "I actually wanted to try out Turtwig, but when I was planning out my team I realized that it just had too many weaknesses for my liking. So I went for Chimchar for a change of pace."

John nodded along. "Hmm, maybe I'll pick something other than Piplup too the next time I restart my Diamond."

We walked together in a pleasant silence towards John's neighborhood. I watched my character jog along in Pokémon Go and prayed to find at least one cool Pokémon before we made it to his house- or really, anything that wasn't a Pidgey or a Rattata.

"This breeze feels nice," John commented, breaking my concentrated stare.

"Oh, it does." Leaves danced on trees all around us, yet I hadn't even noticed the slight change in weather. Looking up at the sky, I saw another change. "The clouds above us are really dark. It wasn't supposed to rain today, was it?"

John shook his head in response, and the sky dimmed further as clouds covered the sun. "I checked the weather before I left- no chance of rain. But the weather people haven't exactly been too accurate with their predictions lately, so I'm not too surprised."

"That's true." I let the weather slide without another question. An occurrence such as this wasn't unusual- there was no reason to be skeptical.

Then the wind really started to pick up, howling in my ears, blowing loose leaves off of branches. Though the sun was already covered, it darkened to the point that I would've thought it was evening if my wristwatch didn't read 2 pm.

"This is gonna be a really wicked storm- I can already tell." John murmured as he gazed at the fast-moving clouds.

"Yeah…" My mouth felt a little dry, my fingers a little shaky- both things that occurred when my nerves started to take over. It's not that I entirely hated big storms, I just didn't want to get caught in one. I was totally fine watching from a window, just not being out and about. However, we still weren't too close to John's house, and it looked like it would downpour any minute.

Beside me, John looked puzzled but not frightened. "How about we jog? I don't want to get caught in this, and I'll bet you don't want to either," he suggested.

"Sounds good to me." I stopped to put my phone in my backpack so it wouldn't get wet when the rain started, then started jogging lightly on the path from the forest towards a big field. When we were just about to leave the shroud of trees, a peel of lightning lit up the dark sky, a magnificent bang resounding not a second later.

"Wow, that thunder sounded pretty close…" John mumbled, stopping in his tracks.

"Uh huh, it did." I stood there next to him, contemplating how good of an idea it was to run through an open field during a storm. Did that make you more likely to get struck by lightning? I wasn't sure- it had been years since I had a class about earth science and I wasn't particularly knowledgeable on the subject. After a moment of hesitation, I continued, "I think we should be all right if we run through the field. Let's go as fast as possible just to be safe."

"Yeah, we should be fine." I could see his eyes straining to see past the dense trees and into the grassy field. Unlike me, John seemed totally unfazed by the weather.

"Let's run on the count of three, okay? We can do this- we'll be back in the woods as soon as we get past this part. We'll be fine." I said the last sentence more for myself than John, my fingers buzzing with anxiety.

"Okay."

"One…" I started, eyeing John's form as he prepared to run, "Two… three!"

We broke into a sprint together, emerging from the forest when a lightning bolt struck much closer to us this time- in fact, I saw it strike the opposite end of the field. The following bang had me covering my ears in a split second, though I still heard a faint ringing noise afterwards regardless of my attempted protection. I looked at the sky again to see clouds lighting up with electrical energy as the wind continued howling. A gust even more powerful than the already whipping winds threatened to push me forward, causing a panicked feeling to rise from the pit of my stomach. I glanced at John next to me to see if he was faring any better. If anything, he looked even worse as he gaped at the spot where lightning struck, eyes wide in fear.

"John, are you okay? What's wrong?" I figured he must've been shaken from lightning hitting so close to us.

"Umm, look over- uh, over there. Something's really wrong, Ang."

"Oh, you mean the lightning? That freaked me out a bit too," Okay, it had freaked me out more than a bit, but outwardly expressing that wouldn't have done either of us any favors. "If we just go take cover in the trees again, we should be-"

When I directed my vision towards whatever John was pointing at, I felt my stomach plummet.

"John, what the fuck is _that_?" I shrieked, not fully comprehending what I saw.

As if the world we lived in was two dimensional, there appeared to be a rip in reality where the lightning struck across the field. Within the dark edges of the rip were swirling colors, and I couldn't help but wonder what the hell the thing was. Whatever it was, it looked dangerous, yet I felt drawn to it.

"I don't know, and I'm not sure if I wanna know. How about we just-" John fell silent as we both watched a dark shadow dart out of the rip, "Okay, we need to get out of here, _now_."

John reached to grab hold of my arm, but I was anchored in place from a mixture of fear and wonder. "Come on, we need to go!" he yelled, snapping in front of my face.

This drew me from my reverie. "Yeah… umm, right. Okay." I watched for a second as something else darted from the rip, this time a white blur that left a trail of glitter in its wake.

Despite my response, I still didn't move, so John wrenched me toward him so we could run back to the woods.

We stopped dead when a dark form materialized directly in front of us.

"For fuck's sake…" I muttered, absolutely terrified of the black figure, "Da…Dark…" John interrupted me before I could finish.

"DARKRAI!"

The Darkrai reached an arm towards us, a dark aura engulfing it that grew larger with each moment. I clamped down on John's arm and attempted to drag him away as Darkrai charged a powerful looking attack, which I belatedly realized was most likely aimed at us.

As we ran, I turned around when I heard a strange whirring noise. My eyes locked on Darkrai right as an incredible bright red beam crashed into it, slamming it into a tree several yards away. Curls of smoke rose off the point of impact, obscuring my vision.

"Of all the Pokémon that could appear on Earth, it just had to be Darkrai…" I whimpered in John's general direction as we hopefully ran away from whatever mess this was, though I had no way of knowing which way we were going in the blanket of smoke that surrounded us. I shot a glance at John as a way of checking up on his well-being. His paper-white face told me he wasn't faring too well. Not that I could blame him- I was about ready to be sick.

"That attack that hit Darkrai… I bet it was another Pokémon," John told me. It was a plausible explanation that didn't make me feel any better. If Darkrai was any indication of what Pokémon were really like, I didn't want any more of them around here.

"What kind of Pokémon would be powerful enough to do that to Darkrai?"

His question was answered when yet another Pokémon appeared out of nowhere in front of us.

Almost certain that this was a nightmare, I sputtered, "What the fuck is-" before I was interrupted by a white, deer-like creature before us that looked to be about two times my height. Except the interruption wasn't out loud, rather somehow in my head. I groaned, my head pounding as a voice other than my conscience said, " _There is no time for questions. Get behind me now_."

John's hand flew to his ear, clutching it as he stammered, "This… you're... Arceus… How are you even talking? My head, ugh..." I pulled him behind Arceus, recognizing that we should probably do what this magical deer thing directed to. You know, for the sake of our lives and stuff.

"Yeah, that's Arceus all right." I responded in both amazement and horror, watching as Darkrai drew closer to us again. Arceus let off another beam of red light, this time seeming to knock Darkrai to the ground. This time, it did not get back up.

" _We are safe for the moment_ ," Arceus said using that weird mental thing that I didn't have time to question. Before I could reply, the Pokémon shifted away from us and shot a blue beam of energy in four different directions, creating a barrier in the shape of a square that hummed with energy. " _This will protect us for the time being_."

"Is all of this real? What even is going on? Why is this happening?" A waterfall of questions spilled from my mouth. None of this could better real, there were fucking Pokemon in our goddamn local park and this was not normal in slightest.

Arceus was somehow unfazed despite the situation at hand and answered all of my questions accordingly. "Yes, this is absolutely real, as farfetched as it may seem to you."

"Dear god…" John sounded totally distraught. I was pretty much on the same page as him.

I responded jokingly in attempt to lighten the mood, "That'd be 'dear Arceus' now, not god."

John buried his face in his hands with a moan. Arceus did not care to comment on my joke; maybe the god of the Pokemon universe just wasn't a fan of shitty jokes at inappropriate times. Rather, he continued to answering my questions. " _In short, Darkrai came from the Pokémon universe to your own universe to try and take it over_."

"He wants to take over our universe? Why not the Pokémon one?" I countered. Darkrai surely had a perfectly fine universe that wasn't ours, if the Pokémon games were even slightly accurate. It made no sense that he would come after this one.

"Long ago, he tried to take over the universe I come from- one inhabited by Pokémon and human alike, the one that I created- he failed miserably. Less than ten years ago, he attempted to destroy and claim a universe of only Pokémon. He was very unsuccessful in that attempt as well. This time, he has set his sights on this universe; one inhabited only by humans."

"I guess that makes sense- a world without Pokémon would probably be the easiest for him to take over. But he's already failed twice, he really should just give it a rest…" John sighed, though he seemed less distraught than before. His complexion was finally returning to a light brown as he likely realized he was safe for now, defended by the god of the Pokemon universe which I could still not fucking get over.

" _Darkrai is evil, and will never stop plotting to take over some universe somewhere- which brings me to answering your final question. Why is Darkrai here?_ " Arceus paused for dramatic effect, and I looked in Darkrai's direction to find that he was still collapsed. The rainless storm droned on with the same intensity as before

" _Darkrai is here, or rather attempts to take over these universes because he feeds off of darkness. Darkness gives him power, which is his ultimate addiction. An ideal world for him is one shrouded in darkness as its residents are trapped in nightmares- Darkrai gains the most power by inflicting nightmares on people and Pokémon and eating those bad dreams. Not only do these nightmares make him stronger, but he can also control those under the influence of his nightmares to do whatever he pleases._ " All of this was stated by Arceus in an emotionless, matter-of-fact tone.

"So Darkrai is evil and wants to take over our world for power. _Fantastic_. We're not just going to let him destroy our world, right? You're literally God; can't you do something?" Okay, so I was basically yelling at God. Probably not a good idea, but I was a little stressed.

"There are two Pokémon that can do something about this situation," Arceus responded slowly, as if he was weighing his options.

John was as determined as me to stop this whole worldwide destruction thing being that, you know, we kind of lived in this universe and cared about it a little bit. "Those two Pokémon that can prevent all this would be would be…?" he pressed, not exactly keen on a Darkrai-ruled world.

" _Cresselia and I_."

"If you're Arceus, then why aren't you doing anything?" John's voice rose and his face took on a pink tint. I placed a hand on his arm to help calm him down. Then I shot him a glare that hopefully came across as something along the lines _this is a god we're dealing with and we really can't afford to fuck this up, please don't make him angry_. It must have worked at least a little, because John untensed a bit, sending me an apologetic glance.

Arceus chose to ignore John's accusatory behavior and simply answered his question. " _First of all, Cresselia cannot do anything because she is not currently here and has no easy way of getting here. And please note this- Cresselia is much more effective at quelling Darkrai's rage than I am. Secondly, in my current state, there's little to no chance of me defeating Darkrai._ "

At this point, I was just confused. This was a lot to take in all at once, and it was starting to sound like Arceus wasn't exactly all he was cracked up to be in the Pokémon video games. "But you're literally the Pokémon god! Aren't you always ready for a fight?"

Arceus sighed, seeming to be a bit fed up with us at this point. " _I am not absolutely all-powerful- not in this universe, at least. However, I would be much more powerful if I had all of my elemental plates._ "

"Oh right, your plates- the ones you use to change types!" John said, recognizing the plates from the Pokemon games.

Arceus eyed him curiously. " _Yes. You know of my plates?_ "

"I do. So does she." He pointed in my direction. "We play the Pokémon video games. We know all about you, Cresselia, Darkrai, and a bunch of other Pokémon." Arceus looked like he wanted to know more about these Pokémon video games, but there was definitely a more pressing matter to attend to.

" _That… is interesting indeed. I never imagined that your universe would know of ours. Perhaps someone from your universe has been to mine somehow. But that is aside from the point_."

"I guess it wouldn't make sense to have games of your world if no one had ever been there. But anyway, if you don't mind me asking, where are all of your plates? Can't you just go back to the Pokémon universe, find Cresselia or the plates, then come back and beat up Darkrai?" I inquired, hoping that this could be a fast fix.

Arceus looked up to the stormy sky, perhaps in order to gather his thoughts. " _My plates are scattered throughout the Sinnoh region- the one I created and originate from. I did this to protect them from being stolen before falling into a deep sleep. It would take much time to find all of my plates if I were to go back. And that is not even taking into account figuring out how to get back here._ "

"Figuring out how to get back here? How did you get here in the first place? As a god, shouldn't you be able to just teleport here or whatever?" I fired back. None of it made any sense. Across the field, that portal- didn't he make that?

" _I am the god of my own universe, not yours. I do not have the power to go to this universe whenever I please or back to my own. That portal over there_ ," Arceus motioned his head in the direction of said portal, " _it was not created by me, but instead Palkia, the spatial Pokémon. I gave her my powers to shape the universe and travel to other universes when I created her so I could focus on my other godly duties. Darkrai has Palkia trapped in a nightmare currently, which is how he forced her create this portal. The only reason I am here is because I followed after him._ " Arceus looked to be tired of our bombardment of questions. However, I wasn't stopping until one of us had a plan to save the universe that had a good chance of working, and it looked like John was in the same boat.

"The portal's still open, yeah? So just go back and have Palkia open it back up when you have your plates and Cresselia." I demanded, crossing my arms. Before now I had attempted to remain calm, but this was getting complicated and I was frustrated.

" _That portal is going to close as soon as Darkrai's control wears off of Palkia. Since Darkrai is in this universe now, Palkia won't be under his control for much longer. That means the portal will be closing in a few minutes. There is no way I could weaken him enough in the next few minutes to drag him back to Sinnoh. And if I did leave Darkrai behind here, he would quickly destroy your world as you know it- there are no Pokémon here to stop him. And while this universe is not mine, therefore not my responsibility, the disappearance of Darkrai actually disrupts the equilibrium of my universe. So in the time that I would go back to retrieve the plates or Cresselia, or both if I really wanted to make sure that plan would succeed, he would not only destroy your world but my own would become dangerously unstable. And if I were to stay here too long, my universe would also become unstable, because I of course am essential to the Pokémon dimension_."

I didn't really understand the specifics of what Arceus was saying, but I got the feeling that the chance of saving our world was depressingly low. This was just too much at once. If he did nothing, it sounded like both our universes were in trouble.

"There has to be something you can do about this!" John insisted, his voice raw with emotion. Though he sounded a bit aggressive once again, I had no inclination to stop him this time around. We needed a solution, and we needed one now.

" _I do have a proposition. If you both give me your cooperation, we may just be able to prevent a disaster on both of our ends."_ Arceus looked unsure about whatever it was he'd come up with.

"I'll do anything." My eyes connected with Arceus' piercing red ones. I probably wasn't qualified to save the world- to save anyone, honestly- but did I really have a choice? I felt an overwhelming desire to do anything I could save my friends, my family… my own goddamn future. I couldn't exactly go to college if I was dead and the world was in ruins, now could I?

Despite Arceus' obvious reluctance to introduce his plan, he pressed on. " _I will stay here and defend your world. I may not be at full strength, but I should be able to fend him off for some time_." He paused, looked away, then sighed before continuing, " _You two must go to the Sinnoh region, find my plates or Cresselia, both for the highest percentage of this plan succeeding, then return back here so Darkrai can be defeated._ "

"Umm, I really do wanna save the world, I swear," John began, twisting his hands together, eyes downcast, "But that's a lot. I don't think we'd fair too well in universe full of Pokemon. How long would we even have to do it?"

" _I can hold off Darkrai for a day, probably-_ "

Before Arceus could continue, John sputtered in response, "One day?! There's no way we can do all that in just a day!"

" _Let me finish_ ," Arceus growled, his threatening aura washing over me. John and I fell silent at once. " _Like water, time is a versatile element that fluctuates in shape. While traveling here, I noticed that time flows differently between our two universes. In fact, it seems that a day in your universe currently equals about a year in the Pokémon one. So, you'd have a year to do all of that._ "

"I don't know, Sinnoh's such a huge region, it could take so much longer than a year…" I trailed off, unsure if attempting this was even worth the trouble.

"Angela, are you serious?" John chastised, though I wasn't even sure what about yet, "This is our only chance to save the goddamn universe. Not only that, but you know the Sinnoh region like the back of your hand, and so do I!"

Though I still was not totally convinced, I admitted defeat to John and turned back to Arceus. "If this is the only way… then Arceus, you can count on us." My heart was thumping fast in my chest. Yep, this was totally real. I was seriously going to the Sinnoh region. With my best friend who was also obsessed with the Sinnoh region, no less. If the situation had been different, this would have been a dream come true.

" _Thank you for doing this. Your universe thanks you, as does mine_." Arceus directed his gaze back at Darkrai, who seemed to be in a semi-conscious state now.

"So… We have to go through that portal there?" John said, and at this I realized that the portal was indeed growing small.

" _Yes. As soon as I break the barrier around us, run as fast as you can to the portal and jump in._ " I hadn't even realized the shimmering blue barriers were still in place- I had been too engrossed in my conversation with a literal god to notice.

"Can we just have the rundown one more time? Just really quickly, before we have to go." John pleaded. Perhaps he hadn't paid attention, being a little stressed like me and all, or maybe he was just nervous. Regardless, I wanted to hear the plan again too, so I nodded along after he made his request. Because I kind of wasn't fully listening either.

" _Your main goal is to gather the seventeen plates and find Cresselia. She is most likely roaming Sinnoh, but you should still check her home on Fullmoon Island to see if she is there as well. By the time one year has passed for you, you must find Palkia and have her warp you back here. If you can do all of that, there's a chance that your world can be saved_."

"Okay," was all I could respond, knowing that the weight of the world was metaphorically on my shoulders. John nodded, and I could see on his face that he was terrified of what was to come. Honestly, so was I.

" _Stand at the edge of the barrier facing the portal_ ," Arceus directed, " _I will lift it when you tell me to do so_." Arceus looked past the barrier at the slowly moving Darkrai, then added, " _It seems that Darkrai is waking and the portal is shrinking, so I suggest that you get moving sooner than later. Do your best to steer clear of it, I will try to keep him out of your way._ "

"Darkrai is directly in line with the portal." I muttered, realizing that he was now fully conscious and ready to be a nuisance. There was no way this was going to go smoothly.

"It's okay, we'll be fine. Ready?" John asked me, squeezing my arm in reassurance.

"Yeah," I breathed out. My knees wobbled, but at the same time I was ready to run faster than I ever had before.

"Lift the barrier!" John yelled, and all of a sudden the blue walls vanished.

John dashed off in front of me, heading directly to the portal. When he turned back and saw that I was still frozen in place, he screamed, "RUN!"

That was all I needed to get moving. My feet felt heavy, knees still unsteady, but I pushed back the fluttery feeling in my throat and made a mad dash to the portal.

All of a sudden, a dark mass was in front of me.

"Holy fu- ah, Darkrai!" I shrieked, attempting to swivel around and run away, go somewhere, anywhere, just away from that monster. I looked to the side to see that John was already standing next to the portal waiting for me.

As I strode towards the portal Darkrai was next to me, keeping up with my pace and emitting a strange, unnerving noise.

"Get… away!" I dashed forward as Darkrai thrust a glowing purple claw at me.

"Ah- oh, FUCK!" I hissed as a searing pain ripped through my arm, Darkrai's claws digging in deep. But I ran even faster now, legs throbbing and veins pumping so loud I thought they'd burst.

John yelled in my direction, "Move to the right! I think Arceus is trying to take out Darkrai but doesn't want to hit you!"

I complied so I wouldn't get caught in whatever attack Arceus was about to fire- if that was what Darkrai could do with a little scrape, Arceus fucking knew a Hyper Beam would obliterate my goddamn body. After a moment of an odd whirring noise I remembered hearing just before I saw Arceus for the first time, a bright red beam slammed Darkrai, knocking it across the clearing, dirt chunks unearthing and flying in all directions where he landed. This time though, it didn't pass out. Getting up with ease, it floated in the direction of Arceus.

This was exactly the diversion John and I needed to get through the portal. In seconds, I was next to John, staring into the portal of swirling colors.

"Arceus didn't even tell us where this leads," John huffed, "I sure hope it doesn't spit us out anywhere near Snowpoint City. We'll freeze to death before we can do shit."

"Uh, yeah… right." My mind was numb, but my fucked up arm most certainly was not. The blood dripping off my arm and most definitely staining my shirt. Wow, how was I even concerned about my shirt now of all times?

John looked down when he saw me doing so. "Oh my god, I didn't realize he got you!" He grabbed at my arm to inspect it, but I shuffled away from him.

"It doesn't feel as bad as it looks." That was such a shitty lie on my part. It obviously hurt like a bitch and would probably need stitches or something, but you know, we kind of had to get out of here before I could think about doing anything about it.

"We need to get that looked at in… Sinnoh." It looked like it was finally sinking in to John that we were actually going to the Pokémon world while we were gone.

"Definitely," I agreed, giving him a wobbly smile. "Now, shall we?"

"Of course." John nodded his head with an ecstatic grin.

"Good luck, Arceus." I whispered, genuinely wishing him all the best. It was all up to him in this universe now.

"So should we like, climb in? Or just-" John stuck a single finger into the portal, and immediately his form was sucked in.

"Oh hell no, JOHN!"

Following him, I thrust my arms into the kaleidoscope of colors and was fully encompassed, unaware of what I would encounter on the other side of the swirling hues.

* * *

End Note: If you made it to the end of this, thanks a bunch for reading! This has technically been in the works since I was twelve, but I'm obviously much older and better at writing now. Drop me a line if you'd like and tell me what you think! The next chapter is already finished and will be coming soon.


	2. Snitches get stitches

When I regained consciousness, the first thing I noticed was the sound of lapping water. Before opening my eyes, I breathed out a sigh of relief. Everything that happened before was definitely an elaborate nightmare. I'd just fallen asleep on the beach and none of what I thought had happened was real. It was summertime and I went to the beach a lot over summer break. There was one problem with that theory, though- what I was laying on wasn't sand, and it I felt so cold that hell had probably frozen over. Because you know, that sort of thing was possible.

I opened my eyes with a huff to see where I really was. Surrounding me were more trees than I'd ever seen even at a park, and these were different than the ones that grew in my hometown. Rather than leafy trees, these were adorned with pine needles as if we were far north somewhere.

A few feet to my right laid John, who appeared to be sound asleep. Laughing under my breath, I remembered that that boy could sleep through anything. Apparently that included being warped to another dimension.

On my right was a lake that stretched as far as I could see, which explained the sound of water heard upon waking. I shivered, noting the goosebumps dotting my freezing, bare arms and legs. The scattered snow piles lining the lakefront gave me an idea that it probably wasn't summer around here.

And then I realized that my left arm felt oddly numb. Like, I couldn't feel it at all numb. When I glanced down at it, I got an eyeful of ripped skin and leaking blood.

That's when it really hit me.

Darkrai. Arceus. The portal. One year.

Great, so this wasn't just someone's sick joke. Reality was cruel and all that.

Crawling over to the edge of Lake Whatever-The-Hell, I leaned over and dipped my arm in the water to help clean it off. Curls of red drifted out to deeper water and I grimaced as the cool temperature assaulted my senses. I peered into the water as the blood washed away and noticed the shadow of an unusually large fish a few feet out.

"The hell is that?" I muttered, lifting my arm from the water. Fresh blood sprang to the cut immediately.

As if on cue, the large orange fish flew out of the water with a splash, flailed a bit, then dove back in.

"That just abouts confirms it, I guess. Being that Magikarp aren't anywhere on Earth, as far as I know." Shaking my head in disbelief, I couldn't help a small smile stretching across my lips. So I didn't exactly get to come here on my own terms. Sure, my arm was a little fucked up, hopefully not irreversibly. But I was still here, and I was kind of happy because it's Sinnoh, dammit!

And because this particular universe wasn't as happy to receive me as I was to receive it, my arm chose that moment to be numb no longer.

"Mother _fucker-_ " I clenched my teeth and scrambled back to the lake's edge to submerge my arm, hoping the freezing water would help numb it again.

"Huh? Ang, is that you?" A bleary eyed, half-awake John called over to me. He was in a sitting position now, his expression one of awe as he took in the unusual but beautiful view of the lake.

"Yeah. Could you come over here? I've got, uh, a little problem." I pulled my arm from the lake and watched red blossom anew. That sure woke him up, because boy did he scramble over to me fast.

"Oh shit! Umm, that looks pretty awful... Do you have any bandaids in your bag?" John asked, shooting an uncomfortable look at the torn flesh.

"Yeah, but I don't think they'll do much. These are some pretty deep cuts." My eyes traced the three lines that stretched from right below my inner elbow to my wrist. After finally giving it a good look, I acknowledged that this wasn't going to be an easy fix.

"I guess you're right." John sighed, before continuing, "So, is this really Sinnoh?"

"Yeah. I saw a Magikarp jump out of the water over there." I motioned to the lake with my uninjured arm.

"Wow," John breathed, then looked down at my arm. "That's amazing. But that aside, we really do need to get you some help. You ready to get going?"

With a nod of my head, the two of us headed on a dirt path towards what was hopefully a regional route. The fir trees thinned as we walked, and a few minutes later we encountered a shiny sign that read:

 _Lake Verity Ahead  
According to legend, the lake is home to the Pokémon said to be "The being of  
Emotion." It is because of this Pokémon that people can experience sorrow and joy._

"What a fitting beginning. Looks like we're right near Twinleaf Town." Of course Arceus would dump us off at Platinum's beginning location. How wonderfully cliche.

"Then let's hurry over there! I wish we had more time to linger here and just remember. This is where we got our first Pokémon in our first game, after all." John stared at the sign, his eyes glazed over as he remembered.

"Maybe we'll end up here later, who knows," I was overwhelmed with a feeling of nostalgia, yet at the same time feeling an increasing urge to run the whole way to Twinleaf Town.

"Maybe we can go fishing here or something later. If we ever get the money to buy a fishing rod, that is." I hummed in response and started down the path, hoping that John would get the hint and follow after me. Thinking back on what John said a second ago, I realized that it was probably a little harder fishing in the actual Pokémon world than pressing a single button to use your fishing rod in the games. Nevertheless, I was willing to give it a try after I got my arm unfucked.

"Which starter do you think you'll pick?" I asked, trying to pass the time as we searched for help.

"Piplup, of course. Oh man, I bet you want Piplup too. We probably shouldn't pick the same starter, huh?"

"I could live with Chimchar," I admitted. My last runthrough of Platinum with an Infernape had gone smoothly with the exception of a gym battle against Crasher Wake. That could easily be avoided this time around as long as I caught a grass or electric type. Now that I was thinking on the topic, I figured that maybe we weren't so screwed after all. I mean, we knew all of this battling stuff in theory. Applying it in real time after a decade of video games shouldn't be too bad, right?

"Sounds like a plan, then." John grinned brilliantly, probably glad that he was the one getting his preferred starter. I really didn't mind because I was fond of all the Sinnoh starters, just in varying amounts.

"Wow, I think we've already found Twinleaf." My eyebrows raised when we encountered yet another sign, this one reading:

 _Twinleaf Town_

" _Fresh and Free!"_

Beyond the sign, the flat ground that was w currently stood on transitioned into rolling hills dotted by the occasional cottage-style house. It was definitely more populated than in Platinum, though the game captured the rural feel of the real town well.

And then the world went out of focus, a thick haze blanketing my vision. I stumbled forward and squinted my eyes in attempt to get a better look ahead, annoyed that I wasn't seeing quite right.

"Angela- hey, don't fall over!" John caught me as I almost tripped up a hill leading into Twinleaf. Through the haze, I saw him peering down at me with a pinched expression. "Shit, your arm looks even worse than before. God, where do I go? I don't see a Pokémon Center, but then again we don't have any Pokémon anyway. Is there an urgent care center around here? Does this universe even have those? If there's no urgent care center, would there even be a hospital in such a small town? Oh god, oh god…"

"Ugh…" I moaned, letting John sling my uninjured arm over his neck and wrap an arm around my waist. The edges of my vision were fading to black.

"Just a little further… We just gotta find someone, anyone to help you out." I smiled faintly, glad that I was at least stuck with John of all people.

The two of us stumbled along the main path, or rather John dragged me along. Seconds dragged on like years as I fought to stay awake.

He yelled out to someone, "Excuse me, ma'am! Could you please help us out? We, umm-"

A startled shriek caused my eyes to snap open, my vision finally focusing a little. A few yards away stood a woman with a distinctive, dark blue bob. She looked very motherly, perhaps in her forties, and I couldn't help but find her extremely familiar. After snapping out of her shock, she rushed to my side and looked at me for a moment before directing her gaze at John.

"What in Arceus' name happened to her?" She demanded, wrinkles creasing on her forehead. "Ah, never mind that for now. We need to get her inside."

John and the woman collaboratively dragged me into a building that I assumed was the woman's house and laid me on a comfortable couch.

The woman stood over me and gently lifted my arm to inspect it. "I think she's going to need stitches, but I'm no health care professional. I'm calling the town doctor."

"Oh, okay. Thank you so much, by the way… What should I call you?" John questioned, gratitude evident in his tone.

"Johanna. Just call me Johanna."

It was then that I succumbed to the black edging around my vision.

* * *

"I'm surprised she didn't need an anesthetic. I'd think most people would wake up when they got stitches," said a low male voice. When I grew a bit more conscious, I realized it was John who said that. Wait, stitches? Who got stitches?

The world was unfocused when I opened my eyes. Despite that, I could still see three long lines of stitches running from my elbow to my wrist. It was great to see a lack of blood on my arm, but man did it feel sore.

"Ugh…" Lately, I felt like all I did was groan. Hopefully that wouldn't be the case from here on out now that my biggest problem was solved. Then again, saving my home universe was probably a bigger issue. Oh shit, we still had so much shit to do. We needed to get going- like, now!

"John… We gotta go…" I mumbled in a sleepy daze. I shifted my legs to get off the couch, which ended with me falling face down on the floor. Shifting my head to the side with yet another groan, I could just barely make out John chuckling and shaking his head.

"This isn't funny," I hissed, though from how I looked I probably didn't look all too serious. "We have to go now. Come on, John." John's face read something along the lines of _Are you fucking kidding me? You've gotta be fucking kidding me._

"You're not going anywhere today in your state, young lady," called a familiar voice, though it sounded distant. "And would you please help her back onto the couch, John? I'm a little busy cooking us dinner."

John drew closer to me, held his arms out, then receded them. He admitted in a whisper, "Umm, I'm not sure if I can lift you."

With a huff, I muttered, "Useless," and climbed back onto the couch at the speed of a tortoise. Or rather a Torterra, in this universe. This whole Pokémon instead of animals thing was going to take some getting used to.

John sat on the couch next to me once I was in a proper sitting position. He nudged me in the side with his elbow, and I nudged him back. We continued doing this until I whispered, "So, her name is Johanna."

"She's Dawn's mom." John responded at an equally quiet volume.

"Yeah, I figured it would either be Dawn or Lucas." It was no coincidence that she looked familiar upon meeting her. She was kind of our mom in another universe, and a pretty cool top coordinator at that.

"We talked a lot while you were passed out for a few hours. By the way, she called the town doctor _and_ paid for your stitches. I insisted that we would pay her back, but she wasn't having any of it." John shook his head with a sigh. "Not that we really have any way of paying her back."

"Wow, that was, uh, really sweet of her." I didn't know what else to say. It really was a generous gesture, but I hated being in debt to other people. She even insisted that we shouldn't pay her back, which made me feel even worse.

"Do you know why she's doing all of this for us? You know, paying for your stitches and making us dinner and letting us stay the night." I shook my head no. Wait, we were staying for the night? This was turning into a longer stay than expected. I'd protest, but it sounded like Johanna wasn't letting us go anywhere tonight. What a drag.

John leaned in even closer to make sure Johanna didn't hear what he was about to tell me. "She misses Dawn. She only left ten days ago."

Oh, good god. Arceus, whatever. It wasn't that I thought Johanna was crazy for missing Dawn so soon. Okay, maybe I did a little, but that wasn't my main concern. Dawn only left ten days ago? Assuming this version of Sinnoh followed the events of Platinum, that meant we'd have to make it through Team Galactic and the near destruction of this region. Or what if in this universe, Dawn couldn't defeat Cyrus? What if this universe was destroyed by Team Galactic before we even had the chance to save our own?

"Breathe, Angela, breathe. Everything's going to be all right." John patted me on the back and gave me an understanding look. My mind was running a mile a minute, and John could clearly tell after years of friendship.

"We've gotta live through the plot of Platinum. How the hell are we gonna live through the plot of Platinum? This region is gonna get so goddamn wrecked," I muttered as he drew his hand away from me.

"I think we'll manage. Besides, it's not like we're the protagonist this time around. And we've both played that game what, at least three times each? We're practically pros. I mean we've never actually been here in real life before, but you get the point." It was a lighthearted joke, yet at the same time I knew he actually did believe in us. That made one of us, at least.

"Dinner's ready, so come on over!" Johanna called over to us, effectively ending our conversation. She placed one final pot on the dinner table and waved us over.

"Sit down and dig in!" she exclaimed as John and I took two seats next to each other. Johanna sat across from us with her hands excitedly clasped, watching as we gawked at the home-cooked meal.

On the table were pots of spaghetti, red sauce, and meatballs as well as a basket of garlic bread, and it smelled absolutely delectable.

"Umm, are the meatballs made out of Pokemon?" John asked curiously, sounding hesitant to eat a Pokemon for obvious reasons.

Johanna smiled, shaking her head, "That's a great question. They're actually vegetarian meatballs because, I'm a vegetarian."

"Oh, thank G- umm, Arceus." Johanna raised an eyebrow as he tripped over Arceus's name, but didn't say a work. I rolled my eyes, because free food was free food. Maybe eating Pokemon would've been a little weird, but it sure did beat starving.

"The food's delicious," John told Johanna with a stuffed mouth. "Thank you so much for cooking."

"Yes, thank you," I pitched in and ate more than my share, not sure when I'd eaten last. It probably had been a while with all that time I spent out cold.

"It wasn't a problem at all." Johanna waved a hand dismissively. "I miss cooking for my daughter- she left a little over a week ago to start her Pokémon journey. I told John all about her while you were passed out on my couch over there."

"I'm sorry for intruding." I bowed my head, face glowing.

"Nonsense! I'm overjoyed to have your company, though I was a bit worried when the pair of you stumbled into my front yard. Speaking of that, I'm sure you can tell that your stitches have been taken care of. And don't even think of paying me back for it."

"Thank you so much for that. I don't know what would've happened if you didn't help me out." Who knew where the closest hospital was? Probably in Jubilife City, if I had to guess. If that was the case, I probably would've bled out by then.

"John told me a Haunter did that to you at Lake Verity." Johanna's expression was one of disbelief. I cleared my throat quietly, mentally sifting through things I could say to help support John's half assed lie. In the end, there wasn't much to be said aside from just going along with it.

"Yeah, it was weird to see one in broad daylight. I could hardly believe it myself." A Haunter, really John? I doubted they were common around here. Then again, what other remotely common Pokémon could I have come up on the spot? I couldn't think of anything at the moment, and it was at least partially believable that a ghost type Pokémon like Haunter might lash out if threatened.

"Yes, certainly hard to believe. I've only seen Gastly around these parts. But that doesn't matter; I'm just glad you're all fixed up now. Now, where are the two of you from?" Johanna still looked suspicious, but was willing to move on from the topic.

"Umm," was the first noise that came from John's mouth, and I nudged him with my foot under the table. He shot me a look before he continued unconvincingly, "Jubilife City." I had to give it to John- though the delivery sucked, that was probably the best location he could have picked. Somewhere like Twinleaf or Sandgem would have been too small and close by for Johanna to have not met us before. Jubilife was heavily populated and just close enough to Twinleaf for it to be believable that we somehow wandered over here.

"Ah, that's not too far. I go there occasionally to visit the TV Station and shop." She paused, her eyebrows scrunching together. She truly looked like a concerned mother. "However, it's too far for both of you to go back alone. John told me that neither of you have any Pokémon ."

"Uh, yeah." Good going Angela, you're not doing any better than John. "After the incident at the lake, I'm thinking we both might need a Pokémon for protection. Or maybe we could even become trainers. We just finished school and we're not quite sure what we're doing with our lives quite yet." At least half of that was true. We both had graduated from high school two months ago, but we intended on going to college in the fall. Except now we were kind of stuck in the Pokemon universe and we kind of had to make due with what we had. Which wasn't much.

"I wholeheartedly agree," Johanna replied with a nod of her head. "I hate seeing people get injured because they don't have Pokémon to protect them. And I think a Pokémon adventure could be good for the two of you. Even if you don't pursue training as a career path in the end, it could be fun and maybe even earn you some money."

My shoulders untensed as Johanna rambled on about the joys of Pokémon. She didn't seem suspicious of us anymore, and even if she was, at least she seemed to be distracted at the moment.

"I'll make a call to the Pokémon Lab in Sandgem Town after dinner. They give out Pokémon to all the starting trainers in the area," Johanna decided, clapping her hands together with a grin.

John beamed in delight, probably envisioning himself with a Piplup. "We're very grateful." I nodded in affirmation of his words.

"You're quite welcome. I'll also see if I can get you two an escort to Sandgem Town for tomorrow- I can't have one of you two getting hurt again." Johanna picked up her napkin from her lap and placed it back on the table to signify she was finished eating. "Now then, I'm going to clean up the kitchen."

I opened my mouth to offer my help but she shushed me. "Don't worry about helping me out. Go relax in the living room or feel free to settle in Dawn's room. I already put your backpacks there, if you wanted to get them. It's the room immediately to the left when you go upstairs."

"Thank you so much again," I said before climbing the stairs to Dawn's room, quite curious to see if it was anything like it was in the game. John trailed after me, entering the room as I sat down on Dawn's bed.

"It doesn't really look anything like the real thing." I determined, tapping my chin in thought. "Or rather, it doesn't look like the real pixelated thing. But then again, it doesn't exactly match downstairs either. And real Twinleaf is definitely bigger than in the games, too"

John hummed in agreement, kicking his legs out as his eyes scanned the room. He chuckled when his gaze fell on Dawn's Pokémon plush collection. "She has almost as many plushies as me." He crossed the room to inspect them all.

I watched as John picked up an Eevee plush, turning it over in his hands fondly."I like the Togepi one too," I commented as he did so.

"Wouldn't it be great if I got to train an Eeveelution?" John wondered aloud.

"I'd like to as well, but we shouldn't get our hopes up. Eevee are few and far between in the games. I remember one being given away in Hearthome City, though I doubt that applies in real life. And of course they're in that rich guy's garden just south of Hearthome, but I don't see us getting in there legally."

"Why do you insist on crushing my dreams?" John cried out in an overdramatic fashion, launching himself back on the bed as he pretended to sob gross tears.

This drew a giggle from me. It was nice to see John being his silly self when all I felt in the past twenty-four hours was intense pressure. "I… think I'm going to bed now. You're never quite mentally stable at night, which you're proving to me right now."

"You're not wrong," John agreed. "You want the bed?" He motioned to the single bed in question, which was covered in Pokémon plushies and pink sheets.

"Nah, I'll take the couch downstairs. It was pretty comfy when I collapsed on it earlier. Not to mention you'd be beside yourself if you couldn't spend the night with all of Dawn's plushies."

"You've got me there," John laughed, further sprawling himself on the bed after I got up from it.

"Good night, Johnny-boy," I smiled warmly, drawing him into a hug before I headed to the room's exit.

"Night, Ang." He waved at me as I climbed the stairs back into the living room. When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I was met with the sight of Johanna lounging on the couch as she flipped through TV channels. She finally settled on one that was showing a rerun of a Pokémon Contest.

I sat down next to her without a word because I wasn't quite sure what to say. I'd never been the best with strangers, but I couldn't exactly count Johanna as one, could I? After playing Platinum so much, I was used to the Johanna who just read out a few lines of dialogue. This Johanna however was a living, breathing human.

Johanna took the burden of starting the conversation away from me, to my good fortune. "I made a call to the Pokémon Lab. Professor Rowan is sending one of his assistants to meet you here tomorrow morning."

"You didn't have to do all of this for us, really," I insisted, almost embarrassed that she wanted to help us so much.

"I insist," Johanna said with a grin, "Now, I'm assuming you came back down here to sleep, so I'm going to head up to my room. If you need anything tonight, don't hesitate to wake me."

"Sleep well, Johanna," I called after her as she rose from the couch and started up the stairs.

"You as well, Angela." And then she was gone.

With that, I was left to sleep on the couch. The couch that I had bled on, passed out on, and then was stitched up on. That was more than I had experienced on my own bed that I'd slept on for years at home. But hey, at least the couch was comfy.

* * *

I awoke this time to the smell of breakfast cooking. Though I was thankful for what was going to be a delicious meal, I could tell that the time was entirely too early to be awake- at least for me. The time on the oven clock howed 6:23 AM, whereas I was used to getting up at noon or later in the summer, occasionally even past 2 pm. Okay, perhaps it was more than occasionally… Just a few days ago I woke up at 3 PM. Whoops.

Rolling onto my back with a groan, I stared up at the ceiling as I listened to John talk to Johanna in a groggy voice. He was no morning person either, but at least he was up and about.

"I'd suggest getting up soon, Angela," Johanna called over to me. Though I couldn't see her, I could practically sense the amusement at her voice. She was clearly a morning person, unlike John and I. "Your escort should arrive promptly at 7:00 AM, and I have a few things I still have to discuss with you two."

Deciding to be appreciative for once, I got off the couch without a complaint and occupied the same seat at the kitchen table that I had last night. John was startled awake at the creaking noise of my chair when I sat down.

"Did you sleep well?" I asked John, noting that there were dark circles under his eyes.

"Uh, I had a bad dream. I'd rather not talk about it," he mumbled back, hands fidgeting on the table. Scrunching my face, I hoped his lack of peaceful sleep wouldn't interfere with our long day.

Johanna placed a frying pan of home fries on the table that joined a variety plate of bagels. "Go on, eat as much as you like! You've got a long day ahead of you."

We did just that, both of us heaping as much food onto our plates as we could fit. The only sound in the kitchen was the clanging of utensils as we ate until Johanna interrupted the near silence.

"By the way, I know you two aren't from Jubilife City."

My fork hit the plate below it with a loud clang.

"Of course we're from Jubilife City!" I snapped, sending a seething glare at Johanna. She may have fed us and stitched me up, but there was still no way I was letting her blow our cover so early on.

"Look," Johanna sighed, sending a disappointed look in my direction. "You don't have to be like that. I'm not going to have you hauled off to the police station for a petty little lie. You haven't done anything illegal anyway." She paused before adding, "I also don't think you were attacked by a Haunter, Angela."

I stiffened, glancing at the lines of stitches on my forearm, shivering from the pain as thoughts of Darkrai invaded my mind.

"How do you know all of that?" John asked, eyes searching the floor.

"I mean, I have no real way of knowing for sure," Johanna began, folding her arms in front of herself. "But I'm pretty sure anyone who lived around here would have dressed more sensibly for winter."

Oh, shit. When I first woke up at Lake Verity, there was indeed snow on the ground. That coupled with the cool temperature made John and I look little out of place in our lack of clothing.

"You've got us there," John sighed. Johanna was right; John was in cargo shorts, a t-shirt and a baseball cap whereas I was in a tank top and shorts. At least I had a sweatshirt in my bag in case I got cold, but the weather was going to be rough for John.

"I won't ask you where you're from or what really happened to you, Angela," She shot a sympathetic glance at my arm. "But if that's the story you're going to tell, you've got to make it believable. I'm sure you have your reasons for covering up your past, but you both have to stop looking so unsure when people ask you simple questions like where you're from."

"Well, thanks for the advice at least. We're sorry for lying to you." I apologized, feeling bad for snapping at Johanna, but not for lying in the first place. It wasn't like she would understand us if we told the truth anyway. "The best way we can describe where we're from is south of the Unova region. Umm, sort of." We weren't from New York in our universe, but we were from America, so it would do.

"That makes a bit more sense," Johanna determined, looking to finally believe us. "It is summer in Unova. But surely you knew it was winter in Sinnoh when you came here. Ah, never mind the reason. Do either of you have a jacket to wear so you don't freeze on your way to Sandgem?"

I nodded yes as John shook his head no, and Johanna once again displayed her generosity by digging a brown, worn looking coat from a closet by the stairs. "This is my husband's old coat. He doesn't use it anymore, so I don't think he'll miss it. You said you'd be okay, Angela?"

"Yep, don't worry about me." I grabbed the black sweatshirt from my backpack and pulled it over my head. Johanna's face displayed a confused expression as she regarded the blue Articuno printed on the front.

"Team Mystic?" She questioned, and I looked down at the blue emblem.

"Uh, yeah." I struggled mentally to explain what all of it meant to someone outside of my normal universe. "It's, uh… a group I'm part of. We like Articuno a lot."

Johanna still eyed my sweatshirt curiously as she said, "I would suggest getting a new coat when you can. I don't think you intend anything bad by wearing that, but a name like that could remind people of gangs like Team Rocket or Team Aqua. You know, those awful crime organizations that try and destroy the world every few years."

I hadn't even considered that, but I guess it made sense. After all, this universe was almost obliterated several times over by teams like Aqua and Magma. By what Johanna said, it sounded like evil teams around here were just as bad as in the games, if not, then worse.

"I'll keep that in mind. Where's the closest place to go get some new clothes?" I needed more than just a new sweatshirt anyway. If I trekked the entirety of Sinnoh in shorts and sandals, I'd probably end up with a lovely case of frostbite. And John would probably fair similarly in his sandals.

"Jubilife City," Johanna replied helpfully. "I would head there after your stop at Sandgem Town."

With that, a knock sounded from the front door. I assumed whoever our escort was had arrived.

"Well, thank you for everything, Johanna." I really did mean it. Taking us in meant a great deal to me, especially since her getting my arm fixed up literally enabled John and I to save the world. Not that Johanna knew it was that significant.

Johanna's eyes held a mischievous glint as she told us, "If you ever need me for anything, and I mean anything, give me a call or stop by. You're always welcome here. I can tell you two are good kids, you just need some direction."

John laughed at her last comment, shooting an amused look in my direction. The two of certainly did need direction, as in literal directions to find all of Arceus' plates and Cresselia. "Yes, that we do need. More than you can imagine."

Johanna pulled out a small notepad from her apron and wrote what I assumed was her phone number on a piece of paper. After tearing it out and handing it to John, he gave it a quick glance and shoved it in his pocket.

"That's just in case you ever need anything- and I mean _anything."_ she told us with a wink. "Call me in Sandgem… and Jubilife, too. Let me know that you're okay, is what I mean to say." Johanna's expression was motherly and almost nostalgic. I provided a quick nod and assured her John and I would call as soon as possible.

Whoever was at the door pounded on it a second time, clearly not happy to have been ignored the first time he did so.

"Is anyone in there?" a muffled voice came from the other side of the door. The voice sounded young, maybe around my age, and I was glad about that. Better than some creepy old guy in a white van carting us off to some unknown location. Yep, no thanks.

Johanna called, "Yes, I'm coming now," as she made her way to the door.

She turned the key to unlock the front door, and once it was propped open, I could clearly see a man that indeed looked about my age. He was a bit taller than average, had slate gray hair, and was dressed warmly in a dark blue coat and a white scarf. I couldn't help but find his appearance incredibly familiar.

"Hello there," he said cheerfully, giving a slight wave to the three of us. "My name's Lucas, and I'll be your escort to Professor Rowan's Lab."

* * *

End Note: I've decided that I'll be updating this once a week on Thursdays. I hope that you're as excited as I am that John and Angela are in Sinnoh, for everything they'll do and everyone they'll meet! I have lots of twists in store, and a ton of great characters both canon and original, and even a few more chapters already written and waiting to be posted. Thanks for reading, and don't hesitate to let me know your thoughts so far!


	3. An Eggcellent Day

"Are you two quite finished staring at me yet?" Lucas snapped, clearly not amused by our starry-eyed gazing. We really just couldn't help it though- for John, this was his player character in years worth of run-throughs in Platinum, and for me he was Professor Rowan's researcher that I battled with against Team Galactic several times. Also, he was kind of attractive in this aged-up body... but that was aside from the point.

"Er, yeah. Sorry about that," John reached to scratch the back of his neck, and then proceeded to cover our asses. "I guess we didn't expect the assistant researcher to such a famous professor to be so… young."

I shot John a bright grin. For once, he actually told a proper, believable lie. No hesitation this time around- he just said it. Maybe we were getting better at making up false stories after all.

A red hue overtook Lucas's face as he adjusted his scarf. "Well, if that's why you were staring, I suppose that I can forgive you."

After Lucas came down from the high John's compliment had caused, he continued, "Well, we really should get moving to Sandgem Town. The walk there is about two hours and your appointment is in two and a half. I wouldn't stick so closely to schedule normally, but we have other visitors coming after you to the lab today."

"No problem, Lucas. I understand that such a reputable lab must be busy. Ready to get going, John?" I turned to him with a grin and he flashed one in return. I was ecstatic to finally venture out into the wild, and I could tell that John was as well.

We both hugged Johanna once again in thanks for all her help, and she called after the three of us as we walked towards Route 201, "Remember to call me from the Pokemon Center in Sandgem Town, you two! I want to see your starter Pokemon!"

"Will do, new mom!" John yelled back and looked back at her to see her beaming in delight. I shot John a warning glare, which he returned with a confused look. Something fluttered unnaturally in my stomach at the mention of Johanna being our mom. Our moms were stuck on Earth, ready to be trapped in an eternal nightmare, which was one reason of many that we were here in the first place. And John though that we could just replace them with Johanna?

With a deep breath, I tried to quiet my mind. I was overreacting. John obviously meant nothing by it.

Lucas turned to me with a confused look. "She's not your actual mom, right?" he asked with a puzzled expression.

"Ah, no," John answered, and I still grimaced at the mention of it. "But she fed us last night and let us stay over, and even lent me this coat." John waved a worn, slightly-too-long sleeve at Lucas in confirmation of his statement.

I was about to add in that she had my arm patched up, but then I realized that would require an explanation of how it got that way and decided I didn't feel like lying more than necessary at the moment.

"Yes, Johanna is a very kind person," Lucas said with a sure nod, "Her daughter, however… well, I wouldn't exactly call her mean, but she's… a little rough around the edges." Lucas's face shifted into a sour grimace.

"That's funny,' John laughed, "While we were at Johanna's house, all she did was sing praises of Dawn."

"I'm not saying she's a bad person, just that she's… a little rough around the edges. A little too honest, a bit demanding. Her fiery personality could certainly give her the ambition to be a terrifyingly good trainer, though."

"Hmm, you're the second person to say that she had that sort of potential." John tapped a finger his chin, lips curved into a smile. "If you count her mother, that is."

"Well, only time will tell if that proves true," I cut in, because it was time to get a move on and those two were too engrossed in their conversation about Dawn. "Anyway, which starter Pokemon did Dawn pick?"

We reached the edge of Twinleaf Town and turned onto a dirt road as Lucas replied, "Dawn chose Chimchar, a fire type. It was one of the three Pokemon Professor Rowan brought over from the Kanto region when he returned about two weeks back." Chimchar was originally from the Kanto region? I didn't remember anyone saying so in the games, though I suppose I could've just missed that detail.

"Was there anyone else with her, by chance?" I questioned, then realized how suspicious I probably sounded. Well, I couldn't take it back now.

Lucas didn't even comment on how odd my question was, instead replying, "Yes, actually. He was an energetic boy who seemed to be in quite a rush. What was his name again? Barret? Barney?" Lucas scrunched up his nose in thought, then looked back at me as he snapped his fingers. "Ah, it was Barry! Anyway, he chose Piplup, a water type Pokemon also brought over from Kanto. I believe he picked it so he would have an edge over Dawn."

John sent me a knowing look and I returned it. I was shocked that thus far in Lucas's story, every little detail fell into accordance with Platinum's plot.

Ignoring that for a moment, John asked, "That was smart of him! Did they battle afterwards?"

"They sure did!" Lucas nearly shouted back. His eyes shined in reminiscence as if he was watching a battle between the mentioned trainers right now. "Despite the type disadvantage, Dawn's Chimchar wiped the floor with Barry's Piplup. It truly was an impressive sight, and one of the many reasons why I believe Dawn could become an amazing trainer."

When Lucas finished speaking, he stopped in front what appeared to be a patch of knee-length, sprawling grass. Turning around, he eyed the both of us and said, "I need the both of you to stay behind me from now until we get to Sandgem. There's no telling when a wild Pokemon could appear in an environment like this."

"You don't have to tell us twice," I muttered, a reel of warlike flashbacks jumping from to the forefront of my mind. I gazed at the stitches peeking out of my sleeve, a dull burn pulsing through my arm. No, he surely didn't have to tell me more than once.

"I'm glad I have your cooperation," Lucas looked a bit more relaxed after my affirmation. He then dug out a miniature Poké Ball from his pants which enlarged when Lucas tapped the button in the middle. "I'm going to have Turtwig walk with us in case anything jumps out at us. You hear that Twiggy? Come on out!"

Lucas threw the Poké Ball Lucas and out came a flash of red light, leaving a Turtwig in its wake. Upon noticing it was released into the world, the little turtle chirped happily, then sped over to Lucas and launched itself into his owner's arms.

"Haha, not now, Turtwig!" Lucas yelped in a half distressed, half affectionate tone. Turtwig ignored Lucas's orders and nuzzled into its trainer's chest. Looking down at his Turtwig with a fond smile, he allowed his Pokemon to remain in his arms for a moment before setting it back on the ground. Once it was back on the grass, Turtwig, or rather Twiggy (a rather childish name for an intellectual like Lucas), rain in circles around Lucas like a dog might do after its owner returned home from work.

"I want a relationship with my Pokemon like that," John sighed dreamily, probably imagining himself all cuddled up with a Piplup.

"I guess," Looking down to see that Twiggy had finally settled down in front of Lucas. "I'd settle for some Pokemon that I get along with just well enough. We have a job to do here, after all." John frowned in my direction, most likely upset that I didn't care about the bond between humans and Pokemon. Which I really did believe in to some extent, by the way- I just realized that we had a job to do here more than anything. No time for bonding and all that.

"Onward, little Turtwig! We've gotta get back to the lab soon." With a bob of its little head, Twiggy dashed ahead of us into the tall grass. Lucas walked after it, and John and I followed behind him.

"We really are in luck if all Pokemon are as cooperative as Turtwig. Maybe this won't be as hard as we thought," John said, his eyes cast on the scurrying Turtwig.

"I don't think we should judge the attitude of all Pokemon based on one overly enthusiastic Turtwig," I countered, looking over my shoulder to see a Starly fluttering about in a tree as it pecked at a bloody Wurmple. So, Pokemon did bleed after all. "Twiggy seems like a great Pokemon, and maybe there are lots of Pokemon with a temperament as friendly as his. But I wouldn't count on it."

"Fine," John huffed, his eyes still following Twiggy as it trotted along, until suddenly it stopped. It craned its head to the left then right before chirping back at its trainer.

"What's up, Twiggy? You find something?"

As soon as Lucas asked, a Starly flew out from the patch of grass in front of Twiggy, flapping its wings aggressively, its eyes set on the Turtwig.

"Twiggy, jump back!" And his Pokemon did just that, spinning around and dashing back to Lucas. The Starly landed a few feet in front of it with its wings still open. It growled a high-pitched tune in Twiggy's direction.

"An aggressive Starly? That's a bit unusual," Lucas murmured so I barely heard him. He then turned back John and I, shouting, "You two, are you ready? I'm going to shove two essential lessons about being a trainer into these next few minutes. Are you paying attention?"

"Yep, sure am," John called back, his vision now directed towards Starly. I remembered back to his past Platinum playthroughs, noting that he used Starly more than once. Maybe he'd catch one after receiving his starter.

"Good! I'll use a few moves on Starly to teach you a thing or two about battling. Then, I'll catch it so you learn how to do that too."

John's expression lit up as he turned to me. "He's gonna catch the Starly! Man, I've gotta catch myself one of them one day."

"Yeah, Staraptor are pretty fast and strong once they're fully evolved. Not to mention you could fly on it, which will be indispensable if we're to collect all the plates in time."

"That's… not exactly what I meant. Starly are so adorable, and friendly too! I bet it'd make a great traveling companion. I mean what you said about battling is a plus too, of course." He added the last sentence hastily, as if he didn't really care if it was strong or not. But wasn't that the most important part?

I chose to address only one of his statements. "Maybe some Starly are friendly, but that one doesn't look like it wants to be friends with Turtwig."

John and I were snapped out of our conversation when Lucas yelled back at us again. "I thought you two said you were watching! You've missed more than half of the battle!"

Turning back to the battlefield, I noticed that Starly surely looked more battered than before. Meanwhile, Turtwig didn't have a scratch on him. Though he was primarily a researcher, Lucas looked to be a half-decent battler as well. Despite his obvious type disadvantage, he wasn't struggling at all.

"One more Tackle, Twiggy!" The Turtwig chirped in recognition of the command, then sprinted as fast as a little turtle could before hurling its whole body at Starly. The little brown bird was knocked to ground and having some trouble getting back on its feet.

"Now's the perfect time! Starly's not fainted, but it's pretty damn close." With a satisfied smirk, Lucas grabbed a Poké Ball from his bag, and enlarged it. "Poké Ball, go!" With that, he chucked the capture device at Starly. It was consumed in a white light, hovering midair for just a moment, and finally dropped to the ground.

Shake.

Shake.

Shake.

 _Click._

"And that's how it's done," Lucas said with a smirk. John and I followed after him as he went to retrieve his new Pokemon. "The Starly should be a little more tame now that it's safe in here. We probably invaded its territory, which is why it was so aggressive in the first place. Not that that's a problem now," Lucas rambled on, the Poké Ball still in his hand.

"Can I hold it?" John demanded more than asked before snatching the ball of Lucas's hands.

Lucas chuckled. "Sure. You're already holding it now anyway."

"It's a little warm, almost as if Starly's heat is coming out of it." John smiled, looking down at the Poké Ball in disbelief before handing it back to Lucas. "Are you gonna give it a name?"

"That's because the Poké Ball was just in use, not because of Starly's heat. That's a nice thought, though," Lucas said, sounding like some sort of Pokemon encyclopedia. He then pocketed the newest addition to his collection. "And I'll name it, if you insist. How about… Ziggy? Yes, Ziggy. I do enjoy a good rhyme."

Pursing my lips, I murmured lowly to John, "Yet another shitty name." Lucas continued on ahead of us, either not hearing my comment or not daring to respond.

John scrunched his eyebrows, yelling up ahead purposefully, "I think that's an awesome name, Lucas!" I couldn't help but roll my eyes, my lips quirking upwards just a little. If John liked simple nicknames, then there wasn't much of a chance that I could change his opinion anyway.

"Why thank you, John!" Lucas beamed, stopping to turn around and acknowledge us, "It looks like the coast is clear for now. Shall we continue on?" Lucas asked as he eyed a still starstruck-looking John. Boy did this kid love Starly.

I grinned, elbowing John in attempt to bring him back to planet Earth. Or the Pokéverse. Whatever. "Yeah, we're ready to go. And we're even more ready to get our starter Pokemon."

"That's great to hear. Now then, on we go!" Lucas pushed forward, leading the way towards Sandgem Town as Twiggy trotted just beyond him.

* * *

With one final push through a particularly large section of tall grass, our group of three was finally presented with a clean white sign labeled:

 _Sandgem Town_

" _Town of Sand!"_

"That's kind of a lame motto," I mumbled, not really remembering it from my past Sinnoh experiences.

"Do you really think it's a good idea to insult this guy's hometown?" John whispered back at me in a harsh tone, "Chances are we're going to run into him again, so we should probably be nice." He turned his head back towards Lucas, who was still walking up ahead of us.

"Fine," I huffed, glancing around the town that was only slightly less rural than Twinleaf. The biggest difference was the shoreline visible on the opposite end of town. Aside from that though, the scenery was very similar to that of Twinleaf.

The pair of us trotted back over to Lucas now that we were in town. "Are we almost at the lab?" I asked, keeping pace as I walked between him and John.

"Just about," he said, pointing at a building in the distance, "See that building over there with the windmill next it? That's the lab."

I reached my hand out and grabbed John's forearm, squeezing it in delight. He shot me a knowing grin, and together, we walked the final stretch to the lab.

In a matter of minutes, we had arrived at a gated stone wall with a tall, modern building looming behind it. It actually looked quite different than the comparatively bland, squarish one from the games.

My introspection was interrupted by a quiet beeping noise. I looked to its source to see Lucas typing some sort of code into a pin pad on the gate. With one final longer beep, the gate opened towards us.

"Before we go in," Lucas paused just ahead of us, looking John and I up and down. "Know that the professor is a really great guy, but he's… a little difficult when you first meet him. So be careful about what you say, and above all be respectful."

I could hear John gulp, and at that moment I remembered in Platinum the main player character almost didn't receive a starter because of their reckless actions. What John and I had done was far, far more reckless. Either way though, the both of us were getting starters even if we had to beg on our hands and knees. Or set the lab on fire. Whichever got us our way, honestly.

"Umm, will do," I mumbled self consciously, pulling down my sleeve to hide the bandage on my arm. The less explaining I had to do, the better.

"Right, c'mon in then." Lucas motioned for us to follow, and I hesitantly stepped into the lab building.

The room was buzzing with activity. The beeping of machines, chatter of researchers, and footsteps of Pokemon all fed into a lively environment I thought was a bit out of place for a lab. But then again I'd never been in a real one anyway, so maybe this was normal? I had no way of knowing.

Lucas led us to a closed-off room in a far corner of the first floor where an older man was hunched over a keyboard, typing away with a set jaw and pinched eyebrows.

"Professor," Lucas began, "I brought the ones Johanna called about last night."

Professor Rowan turned his swivel chair to face us, his piercing gaze examining John for a few seconds before falling on me. Then he rose, his stature towering over us.

"You two think you're ready to train your own Pokemon, yes?" the professor began in what seemed to be a mocking tone.

"Yes- umm, yes sir!" John immediately stood up straight, looking Rowan directly in the eyes.

"Have you ever even had a Pokemon as a pet?"

"We haven't, but-" I began, fully prepared to explain why we so desperately needed Pokemon.

"You've never taken care of a Pokemon at home? Or anywhere?" Rowan challenged, his gray eyes cold as ice as they stared into mine.

"Uh, umm, well no, but" John tried to respond, but was cut off once again by the professor.

"Then you do not know how to properly raise one. Pokemon are not simply tools to be used; they require attentive care. A Pokemon must be fed, bathed, groomed… They are not toys."

"That- that's all true, but I'm sure we can figure all of that out-" The professor interrupted John once again.

"I do not believe either of you are ready for that responsibility." He moved to sit back down, totally dismissing John and not even bothering to look at me.

No. I was not letting this go, because not only did Rowan completely dismiss John, but he hadn't even stopped to think about if having a Pokemon would benefit us. No, he only saw the negatives. There was no way in hell I was letting this go, not after being sucked into a fucking portal for the sole purpose of using Pokemon to saving our damn universe.

" _Hey!"_ No, I wasn't giving up. The issue of us getting Pokemon was so much bigger than just John and I. Bigger than this world, even.

Rowan paused at my exclamation, not verbally answering but turning back to us.

"I can't say if we're really ready or not. No one can really tell if we are, not you or me or John. But what I can say is that John and I have nothing and no one else to turn to." That wasn't a lie. We were mostly alone in this world, our one ally being a middle-aged mother who lived a town over and was no way informed of our planet's impending doom. "We have nothing to our names, no job or money or anything. We're lost, and Pokemon will give us direction." I took a step forward in front of Rowan, my eyes boring into his in a sort of challenge.

"Hmm." The Professor stood in front of us for a moment, stroking his chin with a finger. "Pokemon certainly do give a person direction." His gaze flitted to Lucas. "I am still not convinced, but if what you say is true... Are they ready for Pokemon of their own?"

Lucas's eyes widened and he looked visibly shaken. "Professor, uh, you've never asked me that before." His nervous eyes looked to me, then John, then back to the professor. "I'd say yes. They've been nothing but kind and earnest to learn these last few hours."

Rowan's eyes softened just a bit as he looked back to John and I. "That is that, then. Only one problem remains."

"And that would be?" John questioned hesitantly.

"We gave away our last Pokemon to the last two trainers who came by. And to you of course, Lucas," Rowan said, his expression still blank as if he didn't care if we got Pokemon or not.

"Fucking Dawn and Barry," I muttered almost inaudibly. John elbowed me in the side anyway.

"You could come back in about a week," Lucas offered, looking down at his feet. He probably felt guilty for bringing us here, only to be verbally assaulted and leave without any Pokemon. "We're getting a delivery of some exotic Pokemon in a few days."

"I, umm, don't mean to be rude… but we kind of need Pokemon today. We'll take just about anything." John was looking up to the professor, his eyes begging.

"Yeah. We can't stay in town for long. Honestly, we have to get going in a few hours to Jubilife City," I added, and from my peripheral vision I could see Lucas eying the both of us inquisitively, as if he couldn't believe we would demand anything of the stoic professor.

"I see," Professor Rowan said, possibly wondering why we had to get out so quickly but not caring enough to ask. "Lucas, I assume that you are up to the task of finding these two a pair of Pokemon. There must be something around here, a traditional starter or otherwise."

"Yes, Professor. I'll get right to it." Lucas sighed, then motioned for us to follow him out of the room.

Once our group was alone in the hallway with the door shut to the professor's room, Lucas sighed, "Sorry about all the fuss. The professor can be a little judgmental, and you two look a little…" Lucas glanced between the two of us with a frown, "...disheveled."

I offered a shrug and a content smile. "It's fine. He's not famous for being nice, he's famous for his research. And the two of us will clean up soon enough, I swear it. We'll be happy as long as we don't leave empty handed."

With a sigh, Lucas stretched his arms and said, "I still have genuinely have no idea what to give you two."

"Uh, well, neither do I…" I mumbled unhelpfully. "I don't know, do you have any lab Pokemon you're trying to get rid of?"

Lucas's eyebrows shot up, his mouth forming into an "o" shape in realization. "I may have some sort of an idea along those lines. This way."

He led John and I across the lab to an intricately locked door. Next to it was some sort of scanner, which Lucas placed his hand on. After scanning it, the device pinged and the door opened to reveal a deep room with shelves upon shelves of incubated Pokemon eggs.

"Woah," John mumbled, star-eyed as the both of us followed Lucas. "Can we pick any egg?"

"Ah, no." Lucas shook his head, looking quite amused at John's question. "Most of these eggs will hatch into Pokemon we need for ongoing studies. We may not be egg obsessed like Professor Elm, who I hear has at least ten times as many as us, but we have our fair share."

"So if most of these eggs are necessary to keep this place running, which ones can we have?" John asked, still enraptured by the eggs of all different colors and designs surrounding us.

"Most of our eggs fall into that category. Many of these are donated from people across the region and will hatch into perfectly normal, testable Pokemon species. But some of our the donations we receive are deemed… untestable. This can be for several reasons-"

"Umm, excuse me," I cut in, "Are you trying to give me some sort of Pokemon that's screwed up beyond repair? That can't even be used in a _lab_?" I probably should have calmed down, but this was important. It was bad enough that we had to wait for an egg to hatch, and now they weren't going to even hatch normal Pokemon?

"If you let me finish, I can tell what kinds of Pokemon can't be used. Anyway," Lucas shot me a half-hearted glare. "In a way, you're right. Just from looking at the patterns of some of these eggs and keeping up with their vitals during incubation, we can tell that some of these Pokemon will not grow up to be healthy. However, others simply just aren't able to be used because their expected characteristics are too far out of the bounds of a normal Pokemon of that species. For example, unless we are doing some sort of study specifically concerning shiny Pokemon, we tend to not use them."

I smirked, crossing my arms. "Damn, well I won't say no to a shiny. You, John?" He shook his head vehemently.

Lucas breathed a laugh. "We still don't usually give away shinies under normal circumstances. But anyway, we happen to have one egg of a Pokemon not fit for study that should still be suitable for your purposes."

He paced a few feet ahead to an ordinary looking incubator, and stopped in front of it. The egg inside was white on the bottom and green on the top half with a red stripe bisecting the green.

"It looks like a Ralts," I whispered, reaching out to touch the glass. I had had a soft spot for the species since catching my first using the Poké Radar outside of Jubilife City.

"It is a Ralts," Lucas responded, poking at the control panel of incubator. The glass walls receded with a hiss. "A bit of a special case, though. Her father was a Dusclops, which isn't so unusual. When a Pokemon has a father of a different species, the genes of the mother should almost always be dominant over the father; at a rate of at least ninety percent. This Ralts has levels around eighty five percent, however. It's an interesting phenomenon, but not one our lab tends to take an interest in. We're more evolution focused than species variation."

"Umm, I don't entirely follow…" John scratched his chin.

"Neither do I," I mumbled, "Are you trying to say this thing is trainable or not?"

With a huff, Lucas responded, "In less specific terms, the answer is yes. This Ralts just so happens to have slightly more ghost-type characteristics to it than the average specimen. It should not be very noticeable, but might interfere with our studies just enough to be a nuisance. Do you follow?"

"Umm, sure? I'll take a slightly more ghost-ish Ralts. I doubt it'll matter." I shrugged, just glad I'd have a functional Pokemon to work with soon that would be close to normal. Hopefully.

"Go ahead. Take the egg and care for it well, Angela." A smile quirked on Lucas's face. Carefully, oh so carefully, I lifted the egg out of the incubator and kept it nestled in my arms.

"I can feel her moving." It felt as if something was tapping the egg from the inside.

"You'll be feeling that a lot for the next few days until it hatches. Luckily, it's pretty close already. Just don't drop it and you should be good as gold." Lucas smiled warmly.

"And for you, John. Because you were so intent on the fact that you could feel his heat through the Poké Ball."

"Huh?" John's eyes grew as Lucas retrieved a Poké Ball from his pocket. "Oh, the Starly from before! He was a little… aggressive, though."

"His aggression was most likely territorial. If it is still like that now, it should be to a much lesser amount." Lucas looked from the Pokemon in his hand, then up to John, holding it out to him. "But even so, if he is aggressive, that could become an asset in battle."

John looked conflicted, but still took the Poke Ball from his hand. "I guess we'll just have to work hard on that. Right, buddy?" He continued cooing affectionately at the Poké Ball and I was about to be sick from his sappiness.

I rolled my eyes and said, "Anyway, we have things to do. We better get going." I grabbed John's hand and began dragging him out, cradling the Ralts egg in my other arm. John didn't protest, still staring down at his Poké Ball in awe.

"Hey, wait!" Lucas called after us, trying to catch up as I almost made it through the lab's front door. "You don't want to forget your trainer licenses. And take these Poké Balls and a Potion, courtesy of the lab. Also, here's our lab's phone number, my number, and the professor's number. Call any of those if you have any problems with your new Pokemon."

"Will do, thanks," I replied, shoving everything into my bag. Before moving to leave again, I realized something lacking in comparison to the game. "Umm, do we get Pokédexes by any chance?"

"Ah, Pokédexes are more of a researcher's tool than one for the average trainer. And they're quite expensive. I have one, and so do Dawn and Barry because Professor Rowan hired them to complete it in return for giving them rare starter Pokemon. I can suggest a few Pokemon encyclopedias to you if you wanted to know more about them." Lucas responded, sounding like an encyclopedia himself.

"That won't be necessary," I said with a nod. I should've figured they wouldn't be as common around here, they looked expensive even in the games. It'd be a drag without one, but between John and I we could probably write a Pokemon encyclopedia anyway.

"Well, thank you for all of your help, Lucas. You have no idea how much it means to us." John held out his hand to shake Lucas's, who reached out to shake it firmly with a warm smile.

"It's not a problem, guys. And even if don't need help and just want to talk, give me a call. Most of the researchers I work with are much older than me, so I get kind of bored, ya know?" His smile melted to a softer one, "Anyways, safe travels. Enjoy this journey you're about to begin, yeah? You're probably going to experience a lot more than you realize."

"You're more right than you know, Lucas. Good luck with your research. We'll call soon." My lips upturned into a smile to mirror his. I hoped we ran into him in the future. He was undoubtedly useful. And nice, I supposed.

With a wave from Lucas, the lab door clicked shut behind him. Once again, John and I were alone together, with the expanse of Sinnoh before us and an almost unattainable goal weighing on our minds.

* * *

End Note: I've decided to change update days from Thursday to Wednesday, because starting soon my Thursdays will be a little too busy to post. So, just this once you get a slightly early update! As always, thanks for reading, and I love if you dropped me a line with your thoughts on the chapter.

Also, I forgot to mention you can find me at almiaranger on tumblr!


	4. Angry Birds

I walked with John until we were at the beginning of the path leading to the lab. Looking up at the sky with a grimace, it appeared to be mid afternoon, our entire morning taken up by getting our Pokemon.

"Come on, John. It's time we head off to Jubilife City." I turned down the path leading away from the direction of Twinleaf and towards what I hoped to be Jubilife City, and started down it at a brisk pace. We had no time to lose, after all.

"Umm, Angela…" John began, sounding unsure of himself, "Are you even sure that's the way to Jubilife?"

"Well, no, but…" Ah, curse my shitty sense of direction.

"But what? There's no point of going if we don't know where we're going," John chastised, shaking his head. "We need to find the Pokemon Center. Johanna wanted us to call her after we left the lab, and I bet we can get directions there too."

"Fine, I guess that makes sense. But then we have to get going." John ran up next to me and we walked in silence for a few minutes, hoping this path led us to the Pokemon Center.

When we arrived, the Pokemon Center was much different than John and I expected.

"Are you sure, completely sure that this is the Pokemon Center? It looks nothing like the games…" John paced back and forth outside a large, two floor building with glass windows and a red roof with a large white Poké Ball smack in the middle of it. On the whole it reminded me more of a small but upscale hotel, not an industrial Pokemon-healing facility.

"I mean, the lab was a lot nicer than the games. I don't see why a Pokemon Center wouldn't follow the same trend. Also, there's a sign that says 'Pokemon Center' right there." I pointed to it and John laughed awkwardly.

"Ah… right, of course! I definitely saw that, uh huh. Well, we better get inside and call Johanna and all that!" And with that, he shot through the automatic glass doors.

"Of course he saw the sign, uh huh," I muttered to myself, following after him. John was a smart boy, but sometimes I wondered...

On the other side of the door, John was frozen in what looked to be shocked delight, and I could see why. The place was spotless and much nicer than in the Sinnoh games, complete with a lounge area where a few trainers sat and chatted, a reception desk with two smiling ladies sitting behind it, and a long counter towards the end of the room with three nurses standing by. Sadly, none of them looked like Nurse Joy.

"This is… nice," I said in a muted tone.

"Uh, yeah," John replied, still looking starry-eyed, "I think those screens on the wall are for phone calls, judging by the picture of a phone on them."

"Right, let's go… do that." I said. All of this was going to take some getting used to. We definitely had to work on not looking like Stantler in the headlights whenever we saw something new, because we were going to be seeing new things a hell of a lot.

Luckily, one of the phone… screen… things was unoccupied and easy enough to figure out how to work. It looked like they usually costed money to use, but there was still a credit in this one from the . After John fished out the paper that Johanna wrote her number on, he entered it, and the other line began to ring.

She picked up the second ring. "Hello!" The video feed and sound was in such high definition that it was almost as if we were still in Twinleaf. A low burn in my gut started as I thought about my own mother, paralyzed on Earth in an eternal nightmare.

"Hey, Johanna," I answered, my expression guarded. My own negative thoughts weren't her fault and I wasn't going to let them show through. "We got our Pokemon, so as promised, we're calling you."

"That's great! I trust Professor Rowan didn't give you any trouble, then?"

"Ah, we did run into a little trouble actually," John reached to to smoothing the front of his hair, only succeeding in messing it up further. "But it all worked out in the end, for the most part."

"I see. But one thing I don't see are your Pokemon. Let them out, why don't you?"

"Heh, about that…" John began, shifting from one foot to the other. "I haven't actually let out my Pokemon yet. Like, at all. And Angela's been saddled with a Pokemon egg rather than a full blown Pokemon."

Johanna's eyebrows raised, looking between John and I inquisitively. "Oh? That is… rather unusual. What Pokemon did you get, John? And do you know what's in your egg, Angela?"

"It's a Ralts," I said, lifting the egg up so Johanna could see it. "And John's got a freshly caught Starly, but it's still a little... wild."

"Those are both fine Pokemon. Maybe you should let it out outside then. I'd love it if you called me back when Angela's egg hatches. Hopefully your Starly will be tame by then as well."

"I sure hope it is." John chuckled, his voice a tad higher than usual. I could clearly see an image of John wrestling his Starly and losing in my mind.

"Oh, before I go!" Johanna began, pointing at me over the video feed, "Angela, the stitches you got are the kind that have to be removed. I forgot to tell you that before you left. You should have them taken out in about a week."

I groaned internally, but didn't make a visible fuss because I really was grateful that she called a doctor for me in the first place. "Thanks for letting me know, Johanna. We'll call you when we get to the Pokemon Center in Jubilife City."

"Please do, I'd love that," Johanna beamed, waving in farewell, "Safe travels, kids! Try not to do anything too dumb. I can't patch you up every time you get hurt, unfortunately," she said with a wink.

My lips quirked and my cheeks warmed, feeling both embarrassed and cared about. "You're right. We'll be careful. It was nice talking to you, Johanna." She might not be my real mom, but at least she seemed genuinely interested in our well-being.

"And you as well. Remember to call if you need anything."

"Bye, Johanna! Thanks again for everything!" John waved enthusiastically.

"You're very welcome. Goodbye for now, dears." With that, the screen went dark.

* * *

After some much needed directions and advice from the receptionist at the Help Desk, John and I took our leave from the Pokemon Center, deciding that one more thing needed to be done before heading off to Jubilife.

"Is it kind of bad that I never wanna let this thing out of the Poké Ball ever again? Like yeah, I'm excited to have my first Pokemon, but what if he's like before, or Arceus forbid, even worse…" John rambled on as he walking up ahead of me, luckily in the direction of Jubilife City for sure this time.

I breathed a laugh, slightly amused that John was so concerned. Very few people didn't like John just upon meeting him, and I doubted Pokemon meeting him would react much differently. From the way he ranted on about his Pokemon in the games, I knew he would be a caring trainer and his Pokemon would surely return the sentiment.

"You and I both know that won't be the case, John." I stopped in the middle of the dirt path, pointing to a patch of field a few yards away. "That looks like a nice, open space to let Ziggy loose. You ready?"

With a drawn out nod from John, we left the road and found a level spot in the field of ankle-height grass. "Okay, I think I'm ready," John said slowly, reaching into his backpack and grabbing the Poke Ball. "Here goes nothing…" He squeezed his eyes tightly shut and threw the ball.

A little brown bird was released from the Poké Ball a few yards away from John, and once it fully took form, the Starly began to chirp and tweet, flapping its wings rapidly despite being on solid ground. It looked quite excited to be out of its Poké Ball.

"Aww, you're sooo cute!" John cooed at it, taking a step forward, "And you seem to be in a much better mood than before." At his master's words, the Starly became dead quiet and stopped flapping. Wait, was the little thing glaring at John?

"What a relief, I was so concerned that you'd hate me right away." John continued, wiping some sweat off his forehead with a relieved sigh. His eyes slipped shut as he laughed in reassurance, when-

With a harsh screech, Ziggy raised its wings, and divided itself into at least ten identical copies surrounding John and me.

"Umm, wow, that's rather… impressive, Ziggy." John's laugh following was shaky and fake as hell. "I'd really rather we just introduce ourselves civilly right now though, you know, as Pokemon and trainer, so if you could just show us which one is the real you…" He trailed off as the Starly clones crept closer to us.

I scooched closer to John, my eyes flitting from one Starly copy to another, trying to discern a difference between the fake ones and real one. It wasn't working out so well. "I can't believe we're being intimidated by a fucking Starly. Your own goddamn Starly."

"Thanks, because I totally have control over what's happening right now," John hissed, moving so close to me that we were practically on top of each other. "I have no idea where I threw his Poké Ball, where-"

And then the Starlys lunged at us, all of them at once.

"Holy flying fuck!" I screeched. Cradling the egg in my arms, I just barely slipped between two attacking clones unharmed. The egg shook a bit harder than usual as I ran.

"Gah!" I turned to the sound of John's gasp to see him clutching his cheek, fingers red and shining. The gang of Starly had already retreated, now in a triangular formation facing us from several yards away.

Taking a step towards him, my foot landed on something round and decidedly not dirt or grass. Oh, wait a second- "John, your Poke Ball!" I quickly scooped it up from under my foot. Throwing it ahead to John, he just barely caught it with one hand, the other still tightly clasped to his face.

Turning to John, I could see the newly burning fire of motivation blazing in his eyes. "I know how to recapture him."

My eyebrows shot up at his words, completely unsure as to how John would go about this. "Umm, you sure? Need any help?" I didn't want him getting any more hurt than he already was.

"No, I've gotta do this." He began pacing forward slowly, carefully, as to not provoke the Starly clones.

"Don't get any closer," I yelled ahead, voice wavering, "You're already-"

John broke into a sprint. The flock of Starly flew in formation towards him.

"JOHN!" I surged forward, not even sure what I was doing, but dammit I had to try something!

A beam of red light shined ahead of John's body just as the first of the Starly mob was about to make contact. With a ping, the foremost Starly was sucked inside, the rest of his copies disappearing in curls of dark smoke. Poké Ball in one hand and his red-stained cheek in the other, John fell to his knees, face downcast.

I placed a hand on his shoulder, standing just behind him, as I said carefully. "Let's just... go back to the Pokemon Center."

* * *

It was just a long and fairly shallow scratch, the nurse told us as she taped a thick white gauze pad to John's face. She gave him care instructions, a few more gauze pads, and a sympathetic smile before leaving the check-up room.

The physical damage done to his body was minimal.

The mental damage done to his pride and peace of mind was the bigger problem.

John had barely said a single word to me since the Starly attack. Not that I'd exactly tried saying anything to him, because honestly, I wasn't so sure what to do at all. Did he just need a hug, or a few comforting words? Maybe some chocolate? That was even assuming there was any chocolate around here. I was much more used to helping people out over text, you know, over Facebook messenger or something. Except this was the Pokemon world, we had no cell phone signal, and John was physically in front of me. Great.

John saved me from my mental struggle by asking in a hoarse whisper, "How are we going to stop Darkrai if I can't even control my own Starly?"

"Oh, John…" I began, inhaling harshly as I considered my next words. "It's only our second day here, yeah? We don't have to have it all figured out yet." I scooched closer next to him, throwing an arm around his shoulders. "And besides, not many people can say they survived a face off with Darkrai. The first step was making it here alive, yeah?"

He relaxed into my arm with a sigh, the crease between his eyebrows smoothing out. "I guess we did make it out alive. A little worse for wear, but we're still kicking." He said the last part as his eyes scanned my arm. It throbbed dully, still painful but undoubtedly better than yesterday.

"Mhmm," I hummed, twirling a lock of short hair around my finger, "I have an idea for your Starly, by the way. To tame it, I mean. Or at least make it useful."

John huffed a sigh, turning his away from me. "I want to do more than make it useful, Ang." His nose crinkled in distaste. "I almost don't even want to try again. I feel like Ziggy hates me."

"You don't know that. Maybe fucking up your face was his way of saying I love you," I said with a shrug, "But anyway, maybe you should try battling with him."

His forehead creased as he asked, "And you think that's a good idea why? That Starly is thirsty for blood, Angela." He taped the gauze pad on his cheek for emphasis. "And if that's his way of showing affection, then we need to sort something else out."

"Maybe we can use his bloodthirstiness to our advantage?" I said with a hesitant smile. "Lucas told us that it might end up being an asset. I know you're not a particularly violent person, but winning a few battles together could help you two bond, maybe?"

"Lucas did seem to know his stuff," John admitted with a sigh. "But what should I do if it tries to tear a trainer's Pokemon to fleshy ribbons?"

I grimaced at his unnecessarily graphic description. "Just return it and concede the battle, I guess. I don't think it wants to kill anything, though. Just rough up some Pokemon, assert its dominance like a typical male and all."

"Right, because as a male, that is something I enjoy doing daily," John replied weakly, "Of course I had to be saddled with the only vicious Starly in the whole damn region."

"Hey now, at least you have a Pokemon now. I'm still stuck with eggy over here." I glanced down at what would be a Ralts currently resting in my arms.

"At least your first Pokemon probably won't attack you straight out of the egg." I rolled my eyes because goddamn could this boy be dramatic.

"Enough of your complaining," I snapped, jumping to my feet. "Now we should get going to Jubilife for real. Your Starly will have plenty of opportunities to battle and bond with you between here and there."

"But you were just complaining yourself," John mumbled, getting to his feet with a sigh.

"My complaints are valid though," I said with a smirk, totally not meaning it. Because John was kind of covered in gauze at the moment and that was sort of valid in and of itself.

"This is gonna be long year, huh?" John dragged his feet to the front of the Pokemon Center, but he couldn't fool me. The beginnings of a grin showed on his lips.

"You betcha," I smirked, soaking up John's insult that was definitely a compliment when all things were considered. Because this was the Pokemon world, and we wanted to make this year last, right?

"Onward!" John charged ahead, pointing at the glass automatic doors, quite pleased with himself when they magically slid open.

I shook my head with a wistful sigh. This boy was just too much.

* * *

"The road to Jubilife… is much longer than I thought it'd be." John looked visibly deflated, thumbing his backpack strap to hoist it higher on his back.

"I'm with you on that one," I said with a grimace, straining my eyes so that I could just barely see a cluster of high rise buildings past a huge, winding route of open field that transitioned into a forest. "Do you think we can make it by dark? I've never walked so far in my life, so…"

John and I exchanged a look, the one on John's end looking something like yeah, I've never walked more than a few miles because I kind of own a car back on Earth. "I really have no idea how long it'll take, because this looks like it's a ton of miles and I don't think I've walked so much in a day since going to Disney World when I was sixteen. So, uh," John did a mockingly graceful sweep with his arm, holding it out towards the route. "Shall we, madame?"

Huffing a laugh, I started ahead of him with a smile pulling at my lips. I was just glad to see John bounce back from his little Ziggy mishap so fast.

"Hey, wait up!" John yelled, jogging up next to me.

We walked in companionable silence for was maybe what, a mile? God knows, I wasn't exactly one to own a fitbit. Anyways, during that time I was left to my thoughts, and not many of them were pleasant. So many unanswered questions and concerns, so little time... I mean, we only had a year to find all the elemental plates and Cresselia. I never even put in the effort to find them all in the games. Were they even in the same spots as the game? Not that it mattered either way, because I barely remembered where only a few of them were anyways. And that was just the beginning of our problems, oh Arceus…

"Angela?" Came a quiet voice from next to me.

"Mhmm?"

"You look a little stressed. You okay?" His smile was infectious. It reminded me that I wasn't alone in all of this.

"Sort of. Ugh. We just… don't really have a plan for what to do past this point? At all? Like, we've got plates to find but no real way to find them. And we're super broke, with no food and we're wearing sandals in the winter-"

"Maybe I can help you with some of that?" came an unfamiliar voice from behind us. I turned around to see a boy a few years younger than us clutching a Poké Ball. His face was plastered with a competitive smirk. "Care for a battle, either of you?" Then he looked between the two of us, his smirk turning to a baffled expression as his eyes darted from my arm to John's face. He didn't care enough to comment, fortunately.

"Uh, I only have this egg," I answered, mentally kicking myself because this was the perfect opportunity for John. "But he has a Pokemon. Wait, how can you help us?"

"A battle for food. I'll feed you win or lose. Which I think is very generous, being that you're definitely going down." So this little shit thought he was a hot shot, huh? Bring it on.

"Sure, I'll do it. One on one? And just to warn you, I'm a little new at this and so is my Pokemon." John grinned sheepishly, and I could see the boy only growing more sure of herself.

"No problem. I'll go run up ahead to give our Pokemon a little space. Just let out your Pokemon when you're ready."

"Will do!" John called as she put some distance between us.

"This is exactly what you and Ziggy need," I said, patting John on the shoulder.

"I still don't know if this is a good idea. Like, at all," John muttered, pulling Ziggy's Poké Ball out of his bag and staring at it, frowning as he shifted his feet.

"Of course it's a good idea. Even if it ends horribly, we're still getting fed." I shrugged, satisfied that we were at least getting something out of this.

"Good point. Even if we end up in prison for murdering his Pokemon, they'll at least feed us there."

"That's… not what I meant." I said with a sigh. "Just send out Ziggy already, I'm getting hungry. And be careful, because I hear prison food sucks."

"I'll do my best, in that case." Enlarging the Poke Ball, he decided to tap the button to release Ziggy rather than throw it. That was much a better choice than last time, though I still had to push vicious Starly flashbacks out of my head.

On the other side of the field, the boy let out a Shinx. How lovely.

"Ziggy, don't you dare attack me this time," John said to the little bird in a surprisingly authoritative voice.

Ziggy growled at John but made no physical movements.

"That's a start," John muttered, and I laughed because this being considered making progress was just too goddamn sad. "Now, Ziggy. I'm getting the feeling that you like… hurting things."

The Starly squawked at him. Maybe that was a yes? Arceus fucking knew with this bird.

"So, could you help me out and battle that Shinx over there? There's food on the line, and I'll bet you're hungry."

Did the bird just scoff at John? Wow. Either way, he turned around to face the Shinx, looking ready to fuck it up, type disadvantage or not.

"Ready to lose?" The guy yelled to us, arms crossed over his chest.

"No, ready to win!" was John's response, his Starly jumping out further into the makeshift battlefield.

The Shinx looked as overconfident as its owner. He called out, an arm outstretched and finger pointing, "All righty girl, charge up!"

"Charge what?" John looked at his Starly with a pinched expression before realization dawned on his face. "Oh shit, get away from Shinx, Ziggy!"

Rather than listening, Ziggy turned around to squawk at John, flapping his wings about. It looked as if the little bird was lecturing John for telling him what to do mid-battle. I pinched my nose between two fingers in distress. The Lord knew that this battle was gonna be a trip and a half.

The guy standing all that distance away called out to Shinx more quietly so I had to strain my ears to hear what he said. But it was to no avail, as I had no clue what the hell he was saying.

"Ziggy, turn around! You're going to get hit!"

And just as Ziggy turned with a pouty chirp, he was slammed into the dirt by a lightning strike. Boy did Ziggy look battered, but as the Shinx jumped back to his owner, he slowly got up. And damn did he look furious, leaving feathers in his wake as he flew high in the air behind the Shinx with a harsh screech.

"I didn't even give you a command, Ziggy! What the hell are you doing up there?" John's hands were buried in his hair, glaring at his Starly as it circled around the Shinx.

Ziggy chirped in response, looking arrogant as a Pokemon could as he divided himself into ten identical copies.

"Oh right, double team!" John yelled, his eyebrows shooting up. "Umm, now… uh, what moves does Starly even know? Oh forget it, just swoop down and tackle it!"

John's mouth gaped as Ziggy actually listened, each copy diving down to the running Shinx.

"Now, use flash!" The opposite trainer yelled.

And down Starly went, face first into the dirt. All his clones disappeared.

"Wait a second," I muttered, eyes squinting as I watched Ziggy drag himself off the ground again. "Aren't all Starly supposed to have an ability that makes their accuracy permanently one hundred?" I'd raised one before and it definitely had whatever the ability was called.

"Yeah, but we've got other problems to think about right now," John said through gritted teeth. "Ziggy, get back in the air again!" With a determined squawk, it lifted off and wobbled through the air, one of its wings flapping a bit unnaturally.

"I, uh, why don't you try making a really loud shrieking noise to distract it? I know you can do that, I've heard it before!" John turned to me suddenly with a devious smirk. "I'd cover your ears if I were you." Pressing my hands against my ears as directed, I was just in time before a piercing screech filled the air.

"Now dive in and do something to attack Shinx while it's still distracted!" Starly did just so, diving in beak-first.

Except the timing was a bit off, Shinx had recovered just enough from the noise, and had leapt off the ground, catching Starly in its jaws. John looked away, his mouth scrunched in a scowl.

"Let's end this. Now, keep it there and shock the Starly!"

Electricity crackled through Ziggy, but it didn't screech or anything. He looked limp as soon as the Shinx caught him, in fact. Shit, was it already passed out before that move? Either way, the Shinx finally dropped him to the ground, where he landed with a soft thump.

"I think the shock at the end was a little overkill…" I muttered, patting John on the back lightly. His face was still contorted in something less than pleasant.

"Return, Ziggy." He sighed as a red light engulfed his Pokemon. "Thanks for listening at the end, buddy. That was some good progress," he muttered, smoothing his hand over the red half of the ball.

After returning his own Pokemon, the winning trainer strode over to us, posture tall and relaxed. "I sure hope you learned a lesson or two after that beating you took. What was that, your first battle?"

Nope, fuck that shit. Kicking John while he was down? Not on my fucking watch.

"Actually, yes, it was his first battle," I said, taking a step forward and squaring up with the boy. "And he did a damn good job. He may have lost, but hey, at least he didn't electrocute an already fainted Pokemon."

"He still lost," the boy snapped, "And I was just finishing the job up neatly. That Starly was resilient; wouldn't have been surprised if it tried fighting in its sleep."

"You know what? Fuck you." I wrenched John to my side and picked my bag up. "We don't need your food. And you know what? I hope you get thrown in prison for irreversibly fucking up someone's Pokemon. I hear that prison food blows." Dragging John up ahead, I turned around to see the boy standing there, his mouth gaping.

"That was a little much," John mumbled, pulling his arm away from me.

"Maybe it was. But do you feel any better?"

"Well… yeah." He was trying to keep a smile down. It was obvious.

"Then it was worth it."

* * *

"How about we set up camp under this tree for the night? Looks like it's got some berries hanging from it." John pointed at the most formidable tree in the area.

"But… we can't keep walking? I don't think we're that far from Jubilife." I complained, because why waste time by sleeping? We had things to do. Very important things.

"Umm, it looks like there's a heavily wooded area up ahead. Would you rather walk through there tonight and risk getting killed or maimed by whatever lives there that we can't even see? At least when the sun's out, we can see what's about to murder us. And someone will probably hear us scream, or at least find our bodies while they're fresh." John tapped his chin, his expression even as he said all that screwed up shit.

I sighed, flopping beneath the tree. "You've got a point there, I guess." I laid down my egg next me, my arms weak as jell-o because I never worked out my arms. Not that I ever exercised my legs either, to be honest.

"So, dinner," I started, pointing a finger above me. "I think those things above us are edible? I dunno their name, but I know I've made poffins with them before. Tell me what you think they are, Mr. Boy Scout."

"Don't call me boy scout, that part of me is in the past. And they're Wepear berries," John shot me an unimpressed look. "They look exactly like pears, how did you not even-"

That's the part where I tuned out John and started picking pear berry things, dropping them in my open backpack as I went. My travel buddy continued to rant about the careful balance of berries in the sacred art of poffin making until I shoved one in his mouth.

He made a surprised squeak, and I giggled because I couldn't remember the last time deep-voiced John made a noise like that. Then, he pulled the half of the berry that he hadn't swallowed out of his mouth, lips twitching. "God, that is nasty."

"Nothing like a real pear?"

John shook his head, eyes watering as he turned to grab his water bottle, proceeding to wash away the taste. I grabbed my own berry, giving it a good look over before taking a bite.

"It's like a sour patch kid without the sweet," I decided with a sigh, though I still wasn't sure if I was a fan or not. Definitely not as good as sweet juicy pear, though.

"Kind of, I guess." John sat under the shade of the tree and I joined him, legs crossed and back against the tree. My egg was perched between us, and I felt it wiggle a little for the umpteenth time today. "Do you think this world has any of the same fruits as us? Like apples or oranges?"

"Good question," I said, kicking out my legs and stretching my arms behind me. The clouds above us took turns covering the sun, which was already hanging pretty low in the sky. "If I remember correctly though, this place has replacement berries for just about any fruit you can dream up. So, probably not."

"That's too bad." John's face was screwed in something that looked deeper than dislike for a dumb berry. Something felt uncomfortably tight in my chest when I realized I wouldn't eat a real pear for a whole year. You know, assuming everything went right on this mission of ours.

"How about you let out Ziggy? I bet he's awake and could probably use a potion and a berry about now," I suggested, a little because I sort of cared about John's bird monstrosity but more because this weird mood we were in left a nastier taste in my mouth than that berry did.

"I bet he's even too weak to try and attack me," he said with a smile that didn't quite meet his eyes.

With the press of a button and a burst of white light, Ziggy was left lying in front of us in all his disheveled glory. He was awake, but as predicted, much less spunky than before.

"Hey there, little guy," John cooed at him. Ziggy staunchly ignored him. With a sigh, John took a potion from his bag and a berry from mine, holding them out in front of the Starly. "These are going to help you feel better, okay? So if you'll let me just-"

Ziggy hopped back a little, its eyes scanning the ground. John huffed, running a hand through his hair.

"Maybe you don't care, but…" John shifted from sitting to crawling closer to Ziggy on his knees. "You know I don't mind that you lost, right?"

Beady black eyes looked up at John, and after a moment of silence, Ziggy made a rather deflated chirping noise. He didn't move towards John, but at least he didn't move away.

"Winning, losing… both are important parts of battling." John paused in thought, and I mentally disagreed with his whole winning-losing philosophy, because dammit, we didn't have time to lose. "You did your best against that Shinx, so it's okay. Really. Now if you'd let me just-"

Thus a battle between Pokemon and human ensued as John chased down his squawking, flapping starter Pokemon. I stood off to the side of the tree, grinning as I listened to the shouts of John, the screeching of his bird, and the hiss of a spray potion as he held Ziggy in place while the bird pecked away at his arm. The whole ordeal did end in a few more bandaids slapped on various parts of John's body, but I still couldn't shake the feeling that there was something positive growing between those two.

* * *

People had always told me that the stars looked much nicer in middle of nowhere than in city, or the suburbs, or anywhere. It was just that I'd never stayed the night in the middle nowhere to see it till now. But now that I was here, boy did that glowing crescent moon and those shining stars look beautiful. It was a bit comforting, looking up there and seeing something so similar to Earth that I could almost imagine myself at home again.

And that's how I almost fell asleep; slightly distraught that I couldn't find the big dipper in huge expanse of the sky, but on the whole content.

I was pulled from the edge of sleep by a loud rustling noise next to me.

"Ugh… John, would ya stop moving around so much? Tryna sleep over here." I muttered through a face full of grass. The rustling stopped. "Mm, thanks..."

Then came a screech so piercing that consciousness hit me like a bucket of ice water. Shooting up into a sitting position, my eyes immediately darted to John who was surprised but unharmed to my relief, then to my backpack, then where my egg… uh, should have been.

Then came another bloodcurdling, undeniably human screech.

Oh fuck no.

* * *

End Note: Sorry that this is a day late guys! I already forgot my new update schedule, apparently. By the time I realized I should've updated, it was super late and I just wanted to sleep. But it's here now, so thanks for being patient!

As usual, thanks a ton for reading, and don't hesitate to review or PM me if you want to share your thoughts. You can also find me on tumblr as almiaranger. I'll see you guys next Wedneday!


	5. Fighting Evil by Moonlight

"Angela, wait-" Behind me, John shuffled out of his sleeping bag, voice gravelly. I was on my feet and ready to dash when I felt John's hand pull at the back of my shirt.

"Stop and think for a second, please," John begged, releasing the fabric and taking his place next to me.

"Someone took my egg," I growled, "I don't care about whatever's happening to whoever the hell is screaming. I just want my Ralts back."

The crescent moon glowed down on us. It shed just enough light to see our immediate surroundings, though several yards away on the ground something much brighter flickered. And from its color and size, it looked to be someone's campfire.

"I'm going there." I pointed with a definitive nod, scooped up my bag just in case I'd need something in it, and took off.

I heard an unhappy groan behind me, and turned to see John following. "Not without me!"

It was only a short run before we can across the campsite with the fire, and boy was it a sight to behold.

"What are _you_ doing here?" I challenged, taking a step towards a terrified teenage boy- the same one that defeated John in battle yesterday. "And where is my Ralts egg?"

He was backed up against a tree, eyes wide and knees knocking. Even more oddly, the ends of his jeans were charred and smoking as if he'd walked through his own campfire.

"I don't know about a Ralts..." he whispered, voice scratchy. "But I was just attacked by something in my sleep, and now I can't freaking move." His eyes darted every which way.

"Umm, we're looking for an egg, and you're the only one around here. You're saying that you didn't take it?" John placed his hands on his hips, tapping his foot against the ground.

"Look guys, I may have been a little rude earlier but I wouldn't stoop that low. Besides, I can't even move in the first place right now, which is uh, kinda freaking me out." His teeth started chattering, but that aside, he really hadn't moved an inch from the tree since the beginning of our interrogation.

He must have been lying about not having my egg. He had to have been, because there wasn't another burning fire for miles and I somehow doubted most trainers slept in complete darkness. John and I didn't exactly do so by choice. "Buddy, I don't know what kind of shit you're pulling here, but-"

The words died in my throat as the shadow of something appeared for less than a second, disappearing just as fast with ghostly blue orbs of fire left in its wake. They danced around the boy without touching him as he screamed and cried like a little bitch.

With a troubled sigh, John grabbed Ziggy's Poké Ball out of his shorts pocket, enlarging it before releasing Ziggy. He appeared with a squawk, probably not so happy to be roused from his midnight slumber.

"Would you clear away that… uh, dancing… fire stuff? Anyway, just blow it away from us. Please."

Ziggy shot him a begrudging look before following the order, shockingly enough. He ruffled his feathers proudly as the fire disappeared into thin air.

"Oh… ah, thank you," the asshole mumbled, though his thanks was obviously reluctant. Personally, I would've left him to die.

While I was busy rolling my eyes at the loser, Starly started squawking once again. I figured he was just throwing a hissy fit again because John was breathing too loudly or something dumb like that, but then I noticed a markedly dark shadow hovering in front of Ziggy.

Then the shadow was gone, leaving a Ralts behind.

For a moment I was confused. And then…

Son of a _bitch_.

"Uh, just to make sure that this little guy is Angela's..." John began before I could, "Ralts aren't usually found on this route, right?"

The boy was glaring daggers at Ralts as he replied, "No, they're not. Now would you please take your devil spawn and leave me in peace?"

Content enough to not bark at the guy now that I had Ralts back, I shrugged. "Sure, I can. But will I?"

The boy groaned, moving his arm barely an inch before it snapped back into place. "Arceus, I just want your Pokemon to release me and leave. What the hell do you want?"

I could feel John's eyes on me as I said with a smirk, "Food. You know, what you promised us before." The boy heaved a sigh of defeat when I was struck with another idea. "And money. You know, so we can get ourselves something to wear other than these ratty sandals."

John glowered at me, probably thinking that I was taking this too far. "Angela, really? Is this totally necessary?"

"Yes, it is," I snapped, because John needed to understand that we were finally in an advantageous situation to get what we needed. "We have no money; this loser probably does. Neither of us will have need to have frozen toes chopped off if I can help it."

"This is fucking blackmail," the boy spat, his eyes still locked on Ralts. She giggled like a little demon child.

"And this is me not caring. Now, would you like to be stuck to this tree until kingdom come or what?"

"Fine," he said, tone distraught. John glared at me, but I couldn't find it in myself to care. I could almost feel the warmth of a coat I'd be able to buy in Jubilife now. He'd thank me soon enough.

"Ralts, would you be a dear and release the boy?" She did just that, waving her arm with an adorable little smile.

The boy heaved a sigh of relief, stretching his arms and testing his legs before grabbing his bag from the side of the campfire. As he dug through it, probably looking for what I requested, I knelt next to my Ralts.

"How'd you even do all of that? I don't think most of it was exactly normal." Ralts giggled again, and suddenly I felt a pressure in my head similar to how it felt just before Arceus spoke to me. This time though, the only thing I heard was static, as if I'd flipped to a TV channel of snow.

"Her dad was a Dusclops, remember? She probably got it all from him," John said, though his body was turned away from me, voice lacking its usual enthusiasm.

"The move that had me pinned up against the tree was Mean Look," the boy said as he fished a wallet and what looked like two energy bars from his bag. "It paralyzes Pokemon in fear and prevents their escape. Works just as well on humans, as you just saw." He pulled out several bills from the wallet, handing them to me with the energy bars. "Now take these and get the hell away from me."

"Will do!" I practically sang, grabbing both and putting them in my bag. "Ready, John?"

He made a low grunt but said nothing, starting ahead of me in the direction of our home tree. Ziggy flew up next to him and Ralts skittered after him, the latter making a happy little squeal once she caught up with him. John leaned down to pat her on the head as they walked side by side.

Well, at least this Pokemon didn't hate this guts.

* * *

The sun was just peeking over the horizon when John and I made it back to camp. Well, it wasn't much of a camp- more just a berry tree with John's backpack lying at the base of it. Either way, John returned Ziggy with a soft thank you then leaned against said tree with his eyes closed. During our little walk back to now, he hadn't said a word to me.

"Think fast!" I said playfully, tossing one of the energy bars at him. He opened his eyes as it hit his chest then dropped to the ground. With a sigh, he bent over to retrieve it and stood again as he unwrapped it.

"Stealing his money was really shitty of you," he said, crossing his arms.

"Not being able to feel my toes because I'm wearing sandals in the winter is shitty too," I fired back, because it was a winter night and we were stuck in shorts and sandals and there was goddamn frost on the grass.

Nevertheless, John's eyes narrowed at me accusingly. "We probably would've figured out how to get some clothes in Jubilife, money or not."

"In a big city like that? I doubt anyone would've cared enough to help us."

"Oh, please. I'm sure someone would've." He looked directly at me, then took a step in my direction. "But no, you just had to go and hold up some kid on our second day in another goddamn universe, didn't you?"

"Excuse me for trying to help! It's not like the kid was exactly a saint either."

"Two wrongs never make a right!"

"Who the hell cares? His Shinx almost _murdered-_ oh…" Ralts chose that moment to sidle up under me, pressing the horn on her helmet to the exposed skin of my leg. "What's wrong? Are you upset?" She didn't tell me- it's not like she could talk. But through her touch, for some reason I could just feel it.

"Of course I'm upset!" John snapped, turning away from me with a huff.

"No," I said, "Ralts is upset." True to my words, I looked down to see a frown curving on her little face.

"Oh, umm," John's face softened a little bit. "I guess this is a kind of shitty introduction for her, huh? With you stealing shit and us fighting and all"

"I'm sure it was just your dumb loud voice. Right little guy?" I cooed at Ralts, kneeling down in front of her. From the corner of my eye, I saw John frown at me but say nothing. Figures, being that this whole argument was his fault anyway.

Ralts had taken a few tiny steps back after nudging me with her horn, and boy did I feel bad, because she was shivering in fear. "Come on over here, Ralts."

She waddled over silently, stopping a foot or so in front of me. Was dealing with a new Pokemon anything like dealing with a new dog? I had two of those at home that I got along with just fine, so I figured I might hold out a hand in front of her. Maybe she'd want to sniff it or something? God knows.

"We didn't mean to scare you. John and I usually get along just fine, I swear. Can I…?" Ever so gently, I pressed my hand against her horn again. A flood of emotions washed over me again, these ones a bit calmer though still hesitant.

Footsteps dragged through the grass until John was standing behind me. "Now that things have cooled down a little, don't you think she deserves a name?"

Oh, right. That'd probably help, being that there were probably thousands of Ralts in the world. But what would her name be? I'd used naming themes in most of the games I played, something along the lines of Greek gods or precious stones, but that felt oddly cheap now that a live Pokemon was sitting in front of me.

"I should," I finally responded, the words coming out slowly as I glanced at our surroundings. Something simple, easy enough that it would stick but not so much that it sounded dumb. "Uh…"

John was giving me a curious and somewhat demeaning look and I shot him back a glare. He didn't have to name Ziggy; Lucas took care of that for him. The kid had no room to complain.

Looking up, I saw the stars and moon still barely present as the sky shifted from near black to something lighter. Maybe a celestial name would work. "Twilight?"

I looked at John, and his expression looked similar to how it did after eating a Wepear Berry. "After that shit book series and the movies that were even worse? God, no."

"Luna?"

"Eh, better than Twilight. But I feel like there's a lot of Pokemon named that. You know, like every Lunatone that's ever lived." He had a point.

"Maybe, umm…" I was stuck on something moon-ish for no particular reason. "Crescent? Like, you know, a crescent moon?"

The fuzzy feeling that I felt in my head earlier returned full force.

" _Crescent?_ " said a delicate, unfamiliar voice.

"Holy shit!" My eyes were probably bugging out, landing on Ralts before moving to John. "Tell me you heard that."

He was looking at Ralts as well. "Umm, yeah. I did. I guess that was Ralts? She is a psychic type, you know."

"...Right, of course." Except, umm, I was kind of freaking out because I'd forgotten that psychic types were, well, psychic and now I had to teach this thing English, didn't I? Having a Ralts felt more like having a baby human than a Pokemon, at the moment.

" _Crescent! Cres!_ " Her voice was much more enthusiastic this time.

"You like that one, then?" She smiled brightly at me, and I took it as a yes.

"I approve too," John said with an affirmative nod. "And I think Cres is a cute nickname. She said that after Crescent, yeah?"

"Oh yeah, she did." I said, looking down at my freshly named Ralts, "Right, Cres?"

To my delight, she waved her little arms in the air, looking absolutely ecstatic. I let go a breath I hadn't even realized I was holding, glad that argument John and I had was behind us. And it was all because our team's newest addition. No thanks to him, of course.

"Now that that's taken care of," John began, a smile lighting up his face, "I doubt Cres can answer this being a baby and all, but uh, why did she attack that dude? How did she even know that we didn't like him?"

"That's… a really good question." We both turned our attention to Cres for an answer, but the only thing I felt was static pressing on my mind. At least it was starting to feel less painful and more like a funny feeling, as if someone was poking my brain. She gave a soft giggle, this one more devious than the rest.

"Cute, but kind of creepy." John noted, tapping his chin. "Kind of like you, Angela."

I shot him a glare. Cres broke down in a fit of giggles.

Yet another person- er, Pokemon- that loved making fun of me, huh? I was glad that she fit in so well already.

* * *

It was soon after Cres's naming and returning her to a fresh Poké Ball that John and I scooped up what little we had and set off for Jubilife. Lucky for us, the skyscrapers were no longer distant images, but easy enough to see just over the pine tree forest stretching before us.

"This wasn't in the games either," John said with an overly dramatic sigh. "I guess they didn't want to scare new players in the game with such a long route in the beginning. Real life, though- well, it's definitely not as nice."

"At least it isn't too deep." I offered hopefully. "I'm sure the Eterna Forest is much worse."

"Don't remind me. That place is a goddamn maze." That was something I could definitely agree with. Arceus knew we were truly fucked when we got there. "Well, in we go, I suppose."

With a nod, I followed him forward as the trees closed in around us, boxing us in until the path was barely wide enough for us to stand one behind the other. As we climbied over fallen logs and pushed away dry sticker bushes, I cursed under my breath. Shouldn't the route to the biggest city in Sinnoh be a little more walkable?

I kept falling further and further behind John, panting weakly as I attempted to keep up with him. My legs were already sore from yesterday's hike through the rolling hills of Route 202, because honestly I'd never been one for long distance anything. Running, relationships, or anything else.

There definitely wasn't much distance between us and the end of the woods, but I was out of shape and felt that it was time to take a little break. You know, before I was out cold on the ground. "John!" I called up ahead with a shaky wheeze, hands cupped around my mouth because he really was that far away. "Can we stop for a minute? I'm about to die back here."

He turned back with a smirk. "Weren't you the one insisting that we had no time to stand around? You're going against like, everything you stand for."

"Shut up." He knew me well enough to know that I wasn't actually upset with him, just overextended and dying a slow, sweaty death. For once, I thanked my jean shorts for keeping me cool. These sandals still weren't doing me any favors, though.

With an unhappy groan, John walked back to where I was pretty much doubled over. "I knew you were out of shape, but damn, didn't know it was this bad."

"You totally did," I muttered, turning away because my face was probably glowing in shame and I didn't feel like dealing with this.

I could hear him laughing behind me, the asshole. "Aww, come on, don't be like-" Rustling came from above us, then a sort of plopping sound, followed by a prompt, "The fuck is this thing?!"

Whipping around to face foreign noise, I was puzzled by what looked like a little leaf monster with stick legs trying to scurry away. "Oh no you don't!" I yelled after it, grabbing Cres's Poké Ball from my pocket. "Cres, get ready for your first real battle," I murmured against the ball as I let her out.

She appeared in a flash of light, looking drowsy and altogether not too thrilled to be in the outside world. "Use Mean Look on… uh, the thing!" I had no clue what this thing was, at least from behind. Cres listened to my command and followed through with a yawn, leaving the little bundle of leaves frozen in one spot just a few yards away from her. This was a great start! Now I just needed to finish what I started.

"Nice job! Now, go ahead and use… umm, try…"

Ralts had done a lot of stuff back there to that human, stuff I was definitely shocked by. There was just one problem: it had all happened so fast and I had no goddamn clue what moves she could use. Like, at all.

"How about… er, Confusion?"

Ralts turned back to me in, well, confusion. I figured that was a no-go.

Turning back to John, I said in a rather embarrassing whine, "Any help here?"

He shook his head, arms crossed over his chest. "I would if I could, but neither of us know any of Cres's moves other than Mean Look. Honestly though, the bigger problem here is that your Pokemon is literally hours old and you're trying to fight with it already."

Was he really going to lecture me in the middle of a battle? Yeah, of course he was.

"Whatever, so she's a little young. She's already in the middle of a battle though, so what now?"

John reached into his pocket with a sigh. "I'll take care of it. Call her back."

Chewing on my bottom lip, I ducked a hand into my pocket to grab Cres's Poke Ball. Needing help with such a weak Pokemon was frankly embarrassing. This sucked. "Why do you always have to play the goddamn hero?" I spat, looking off to the side until-

Static crackled in my head, more painful than before and pressing into parts of my head that I didn't even know existed. I heard a pained squeak behind me, and turn to see Cres squirming, the Pokemon- it was a Burmy, I recognized from the front- gnawed at her arm.

"Agh, what the fuck!" Gripping my head in one hand and Cres's Poke Ball in the other, I uttered a hoarse, "Return!"

A hand pushed me to the side ever so gently, and I could hear the sound of a Poké Ball popping open and John's voice commanding what was most likely Ziggy, but oh Lord I could barely see or hear anything with this sudden splitting headache.

"The Burmy's gone, Angela," he said after what, a minute? An hour? I couldn't tell. "Hey, look at me. Are you all right?"

"Unf." It was more of a groan than anything, but at least it was some sort of response. The pounding in my head was throbbing a little less, so at least now I was seeing and hearing clearly. "The- that Burmy. When it attacked Cres, my head fucking exploded."

"That's… not something that happened in the games." He laughed awkwardly and I glared at him. It was turning into our goddamn catch phrase. "Well, it probably has something to do with her, then. I don't know what, though. Did she say anything?"

Thinking back, I didn't think I had heard her say anything. Then I realized that this wasn't the first time I'd felt something odd in my head without her saying anything.

"Well?" John prodded me with an impatient finger, and Ziggy fluttered to sit on his shoulder with a chirp. I hadn't even noticed he hadn't been returned.

"No… She didn't say a thing."

John tapped his chin, eyebrows scrunched. "I dunno then, that's weird. I guess that's just another thing we can try and figure out in Jubilife, yeah?"

As usual, we put all our faith in the city just ahead. I was getting tired of writing off all our issues as rain checks, but it's not like we had much of a choice.

"Guess we better get a move on, then. You ready?"

John nodded, not even acknowledging that Ziggy was chilling on his shoulder. He didn't even reprimand its occasional noisy squawk. I let it go, figuring to was best to let him be than provoke him into attacking his own trainer.

We were just about to get moving once again when I heard calm, unhurried footsteps behind us. A soothing voice followed, saying, "That was an… interesting battle."

I turned with a frown to see a rather tall woman in a trench coat that came down to her knees and a hairstyle that screamed _I would like to speak to the manager_. Maybe it was just a bad haircut, but I was already feeling weird vibes from her. And sure, the big cheetah-print sunglasses that sat on her nose weren't exactly helping her case, either.

John was the first to speak, because I was too busy glowering at her. We had places to be and couldn't even make it a mile without being interrupted, dammit. "Thank you, I think?"

The woman laughed so loudly that I could almost feel my bones shaking. "I suppose that you could take that as a compliment." She lifted her sunglasses so they rested on her head. There were light wrinkles lining her eyes, which kind of took me by surprise. "That aside, I heard you talking about a headache in relation to your Ralts?" She nodded in my direction.

If this woman had been able to hear us, she couldn't have been more than a few yards behind us. How had we missed seeing her? "Yeah, I might've said something like that. Why?"

"I have a few psychic-types myself. They're peculiar creatures that come with lots of challenges that are unique to training their type. The headache you just experienced is one of them." The woman took a few steps closer to us, her eyes flickering between John and me.

"By the way, my name is Corona." She held out her hand to shake John's, who shook it firmly. She moved on to me, and hesitantly I did so as well, albeit lacking John's firmness.

"I'm John, and this is Angela." He said the second part as he hooked his thumb in my direction. For once, I didn't mind speaking on my behalf. This woman was weird, with her random intrusion into our business for no reason at all.

"Care to walk and talk?" She asked, gesturing to the path in front of us. "I assume that you're on your way to Jubilife as well. If you would like, I could tell you about your Pokemon a little more."

Half of me wanted to tell her to scram, because who did she think she was, snooping around the woods and spying on us like a creep? The other half was genuinely curious though, because this woman was older and probably more knowledgeable than us, being that she most likely wasn't kicked out of her home universe and into this one three days ago.

"Yeah. Uh, sure." For once, the more reasonable part of me won out, unknowingly sealing my fate in the coming months.

"Lovely. Shall we, then?" She flashed a grin of straight, bright white teeth. John and I nodded along dumbly, following behind her on what was hopefully our last push to Jubilife.

John and I stayed silent as our trio walked, though we exchanged curious glances every few seconds. Maybe he'd been nicer to this Corona woman than me, but from the way he was looking at me, he also thought this situation was a little off.

"I assume this is your first psychic Pokemon?" She asked, that too-happy smile still plastered on her face.

"Uh, yeah. It's actually my first Pokemon at all."

She pursed her lips, eyebrows raised. "That is rather unusual, but admirable of you. Most people start with types that are easier to manage."

"It was less my choice and more out of necessity. Ralts was kind of my only choice." I looked away with a frown, realizing that I'd kind of let some unnecessary information about myself slip out. If she asked about our little situation, I'd have to invent shit on the spot.

Her eyes held an eager curiosity, but she didn't question me further. "I see. Well, if that is the case, would you like me to tell you a little more about psychic types?"

"Yeah, sure." I shrugged and John remained silent, watching as Corona and talked.

"They are quite mysterious, the lot of them. What we know of the type is from living alongside them for centuries and as well as from extensive research. However, there is still much to be learned about psychics. What I do know, though, I will share now." She sounded as if she was reciting theintro to a research paper, and I could just barely stop myself from rolling my eyes.

"You were clutching your head when I first saw you as your Ralts battled. Is this correct?"

I felt goosebumps running down my arms because dammit, how long was this chick watching us before she revealed herself? After glaring at the ground in thought, I finally answered with an, "Mhmm."

"You felt that because your Ralts was using her abilities to activate a part of your brain that is not normally used. She was attempting to form a psychic bond between the two of you, if you will."

John finally spoke up. "Wait, so Angela and Cres- ah, her Ralts- are sort of linked? What does that mean exactly?"

She looked between the two of us, looking a little surprised that John said something. "A psychic bond entails a lot of things, differing from Pokemon to Pokemon. Cres specifically will use it especially to communicate her emotions to Angela, as Ralts are being of intense emotions."

Was that why Cres nudged me with her horn earlier? She did it when John and I were arguing, and suddenly I could feel how upset she felt just through touching her. So, that meant she could send her emotions over a distance too?

"But there's more to it than that," Corona continued as she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "Psychic bonds also allow you to mentally speak with your Pokemon. How much you understand each other is dependent on the strength of your bond."

So Cres wouldn't be talking to me in anything near fluent English for a bit being that she was brand new to living at all. Figures that as soon as I got a Pokemon with a cool ability, it would be a while until said Pokemon could actually use it.

Corona knit her eyebrows together as she continued, not waiting for a verbal cue from John or me. "Such bonds are wonderfully useful, but have drawbacks, of course. Just one is the headache you felt when she opened the connection. The headache will return whenever your Ralts is attacked."

"Wait, what?! So my head is going to burn like a bi- umm, a lot, whenever Cres is hurt?" That wasn't fair. I wasn't the one getting attacked. There had to be some sort of off switch for that. Right?

"It will get more bearable over time. Your brain will reprogram itself to use the parts that Cres activated just now, and it will get better. You have my word. The first battle is always the worst, and it is already over."

If she'd been watching, then she knew that it wasn't even me who finished the battle. Hell, I didn't even have a clue as to how it ended. But hey, if she insisted that the worst was over, then I wasn't exactly upset.

"Ah, would you look at that," she looked down at the sleek red watch strapped to her wrist, which somehow looked oddly familiar to me, then out at the street in front of us. I finally looked up from the dirt trail that my eyes had been tracing for most of our little hike.

I sucked in a breath, because holy hell was Jubilife massive. And finally right in front of us.

Corona took a step onto the paved asphalt where the dirt route abruptly ended. She swiveled around to face John and I, pushing her glasses up as she smiled that still-unnerving grin.

"Thank you for keeping me company, John and Angela. Unfortunately, work beckons me. Otherwise, I would have stuck around a little longer." She raised her hand in wave. "I am certain that we will meet again soon, though. But for now, this is farewell."

"Oh, umm, bye! Thank you!" John called after her as she just about disappeared into the crowd.

Rather than thanking her or even just wishing her good bye, instead I murmured under my breath, "She didn't even tell us what psychic Pokemon she has..."

A response came not through air, but directly into my head, leaving a searing pain in its wake.

" _Medicham._ "

* * *

End Note: Thanks for reading! It's been a while, but here I am. Make sure to drop me any comments you have, and I'll do my best to respond.


	6. Lights Out (Again)

"Holy fuck, not again." I was doubled over for the second time in less than an hour, this time not from over-exhaustion, but mental pain. My brain burned like the seventh circle of hell and it was all that forest freak's goddamn fault.

Peeking an eye open, John looked to be hovering over me looking rather unamused. "Seriously? There's no way you're tired again already. And we can't just stop in the middle of a busy street. Come _on_." He grabbed my arm and dragged me along as I moaned weakly, not even strong enough to yell at him that no, even I wasn't that much of a weak ass bitch.

"It- it's not that," I mumbled when the pain dulled to an annoying throb that persisted much longer than after the last headache. "That woman. Corona, she said something to me, but uh, in my mind like Cres. And my head exploded. Again."

John shot me a disbelieving look. "Mhmm, sure she did. You probably just have a headache from dehydration or something."

I ripped my arm from his grip, anchoring myself in the middle of the street because fuck him for not believing me. Why the hell didn't he believe me?! "I _don't_ have a headache from dehydration."

"You haven't drank anything in at least twelve hours, Angela. We ran out of water a while ago." His face was deadpan. There was no convincing him, huh?

Wait, had it really been that long? My mouth was pretty dry and I was a little dizzy, now that he mentioned it. And my stitched up arm still burned a little. Not to mention I still had to get these damn stitches out in a few days. Also, I could barely feel my frozen toes. In all honesty, I probably looked like as much of a zombie as I felt at this point. But that still didn't mean I was going nuts and hearing shit.

"Look." John sighed, scrubbing his hands over his face. "I'm exhausted. You're exhausted. And we both know how you get when you're tired. I don't want to get in a fight with you again, so can we just drop this for now? Ziggy is probably still hurt and we should really find a Pokemon Center. We can sit down there and regroup, okay?"

I nodded, deciding to stop mentioning Corona's mindfuckery. Cres had woken us up before dawn, and we were running on little to no food and water. So maybe my mood had been slowly descending in the last several hours and I was getting a little snappy. Whatever.

"Fine, I guess," I finally answered John because he was looking at me expectantly and some assholes were starting to shove past us, glaring as they went.

"Great!" Just as fast as it'd disappeared, John's mega-watt smile was back. He grabbed my uninjured forearm again, dragging me along in something close to a jog. "Now, it's my turn to make you hurry up because there's so much to see in this city and we've only got what, 362 days? So, let's go!"

A shiver ran down my spine when he reminded me of our time limit. It was distant yet at the same time fast approaching, and we still had so much to figure out.

But for now, the only thing I could do was sigh and allow myself to be dragged to the Pokemon Center.

* * *

Remember how shocked we'd been when we got to the Sandgem Town Pokemon Center? Well, this one had us staring like idiots all over again. Because _fuck_ was this place massive.

"Okay, so this looks nothing like the Sandgem one," John said, eyes glazed over in what looked like awe.

You know, for once, I couldn't blame him. The place was super tall and modern looking, like a goddamn hotel and Pokemon hospital combo. There was even a giant fountain in front of the place to emphasize the whole hotel part.

"Uh, yeah. I guess it was worth the hour long walk to get here," I said with a shrug because hey, maybe we could get a room to stay here if this place actually was a hotel! Honestly, a real bed sounded amazing after camping out on freezing cold grass last night. And in the anime, staying at a Pokemon Center was always free. Yay for free!

"Sure was!" John chirped, "Now, in we go!" He ran ahead of me and through the revolving door.

I rolled my eyes, only walking after him because not all of us can be as excited as John all the time. When I was just about to step through it, two kids sitting at the edge of the fountain caught the corner of my vision. Actually, it wasn't the kids themselves that surprised me, but what they were holding.

Were those Nintendo DS's?

They couldn't be real. After all, what was the purpose of a DS to play Pokemon in a world full of the real thing? But after blinking once, then twice, those kids were still holding them. And now they looked kind of scared because I'd been staring at the for a little too long now and I probably looked like a hobo in sandals. Whoops.

With a sigh, I pushed it to the back of my mind and stepped through the revolving door, shivering a little because they'd always freaked me out. Focus, Angela. We had bigger problems that needed solving. Ones that, you know, spelled impending doom.

On the inside of the Pokemon Center was a huge room that looked kind of similar to the one in Sandgem, with the whole red comfy theme. Except if you looked up, there was story upon story lined with balconies and doors, with a glass ceiling above it all. It reminded me of a fancy airport hotel.

Ahead of me, John was waiting in a what looked like a line to see the group of nurses treating various Pokemon behind a counter. Our eyes caught each other and he smirked at me.

"Get lost in the revolving door?" He taunted as I drew closer, butting half the line to stand next to him. A few trainers behind groaned in protest, but I barely batted an eyelash.

"Oh, fuck off." He knew I hated revolving doors. I may have had an incident in my youth involving my head getting crushed between the door and the wall. But that was aside from the point.

When silence fell between us, I began, "There were two kids sitting by the fountain outside."

John arched his brows. "Okay, and?"

"They both had what looked like a DS Lite."

He narrowed his eyes at me, his whole face scrunched up now. "That's… actually kind of interesting. You think they have Pokemon Games in this universe too?"

I took a step forward, noticing we were just about to the front of the line. "Could be. But how the hell did Nintendo get from our world to this one? Or…maybe from this one to ours? God, my head hurts even more than before."

"Yeah, same." He said, digging Ziggy's Poké ball out of his pocket and placing it the counter in front of him.

With a smile, the young nurse in front us asked, "How may I help you?"

"Uh," John started, looking up from his Poké ball to the nurse again. "Heal my Pokemon, please?"

The nurse shot him a funny look for some reason. "Yes, of course. The fee for a full heal of one Pokemon is ₽100. I'll need your trainer's license, as well." She turned to me. "Did any of your Pokemon need treatment, miss?"

Shit. This was not something we'd accounted for. "Umm, yeah. Hold on, just a second…" I dug my wallet and Cres's Poké ball out of my bag, putting the ball and license on the counter as I picked through my wallet.

"Here." I handed the nurse two scratched up coins, noting that I still had a few bills and coins left. Apparently holding up that kid had been a good idea after all.

"Excuse me, but since when has healing your Pokemon cost money?" John asked the nurse, brow creasing. "I'm just curious. Not trying to be rude, or anything. We're just… kind of new at this."

Like pretty much everyone else we'd met thus far, the woman looked us up and down, her mouth settling into a grimace. "I can see that. The cost of healing Pokemon at centers around the world has been fixed to the rate of ₽100 per Pokemon for around the last ten years. But healing your Pokemon has always been money, and ₽100 is a very small price to pay."

John made a fake cough and nodded. "Right, yeah. Of course. Anyway, back to healing our Pokemon…"

"They'll be ready for pickup in a few hours. Could I get your Pokétch numbers so the center can page you when they're ready?"

I looked and John and he looked back at me. So that was that red watch thing Corona had been wearing. John said for the both of us, "Umm, neither of us have a Pokétch."

The disbelieving stare from the nurse continued. She even crossed her arms. "...Right. Just come back in a few hours and they'll be healed, then."

John waved and shouted a kind, "Thank you!" as I dragged him away by the arm. With a huff, I looked down at the watch on my wrist. It was most definitely not a Pokétch.

"She looked at us like we were aliens," John said with a sigh, smoothing the front of his hair down. "I gather that not having a Pokétch around here is like not having a cellphone back home."

"In a way, we are kind of aliens here." With a dry laugh, I realized not for the first time that we were pretty much stranded here without any money or useful technology. The cash jammed in my wallet probably wasn't going to get us as far as I'd thought, and I doubted that our cell phones got service in another dimension.

"That's weird to think about. Anyway, how about we try getting a room here for the night?"

I only nodded, because the dull throb of my head started coming back. It was probably just left over from Cres and Corona, but it still hurt like a bitch.

"You're not looking too hot," John said with a sigh.

Shrugging slightly, I let myself lean against the wall next to me because for some reason napping against it felt like a great idea. "'I'm fiiiine."

"No, you're not," I heard a voice say, and then I felt sort of dizzy as my eyes slid shut and was shifted in a sitting position on something comfy that I didn't remember there before.

"Just gon' take... a 'lil nap… uh, here." I rested my cheek against the wall, feeling my sweaty skin slide against it. There were stars behind my eyelids that told me it was nap time. Somewhere near me someone was talking and their voice sounded familiar, but I couldn't make out much over the ringing noise in my head.

"Oh shit, oh… can anyone please… my friend is..."

* * *

A steady beeping noise and an unfamiliar voice whisper-yelling assaulted my ears when I woke up.

"...and it was absolutely idiotic for you to dress in so little during winter! This could've turned out much worse for both of you, young man!"

Umm, what the fuck? Why was some weirdo whisper-yelling at someone? Were they yelling at John? And why did it feel like someone dumped a bucket of rocks on a bed and forced me to lay down on it? Did John find us a cheap motel room or something?

"I'm sorry, this was all an accident! We have no other clothes, and- and I thought she was just fine. I guess I was, uh, wrong. We were going to get warmer clothes soon. Honestly. And food and water. We're just broke and lost, sir." Whoever John was talking to sighed dramatically.

Finally, I cracked a crusty eye open, and the bright light beaming down practically blinded me. The room we were in was eerily white and empty. There was greasy, middle aged man in a lab coat with a rather fake looking toupee atop his head towering over John, and he didn't look too thrilled with him. John was looking at the floor in a way that I couldn't get a good look at his face.

"The fu- _heck_ is going on?" My voice cracked and I winced, because I didn't want to look like a weakass bitch in front of a stranger.

"Ah, you're awake," the old dude said, swiveling to face me. "I am your doctor, Miss. Dr. Reed, if you please." Eww, boring name. I decided Greasy Toupee was more fun. "Your friend here had you taken to the hospital after you passed out in the Pokemon Center."

Yep, that sounded very me. You know, the whole passing out before even getting anything accomplished thing. Which in this case, was getting a room at the Pokemon Center. Maybe we could stay here for the night. What horrible illness did I have to fake for that to happen? Wait, what illness- virus, thing, whatever- even made me pass out in the first place?

Greasy Toupee smoothed down his fake hair piece self-consciously, then answered before I could even ask. "You fainted from overexertion; most notably, of dehydration. As well as that, you have a minor case of frostbite in some of your toes, though that is resolving naturally."

Oh no, John was going to go on a fucking I-told-you-so parade now. So he was right. Big goddamn deal. Except… did that mean I'd hallucinated Corona's mind-speak, after all? I mean, it was only one word, just her supposed psychic-type Pokemon. Yet it had sounded so real, and so specific... and now my head was pounding again just trying to figure out this dumb mess.

John came to rescue just as I started my usual journey of self-doubt. "You, umm… Are you doing okay over there?"

"Just fine. Really." I really was doing pretty okay. That was, until I looked down and saw the long, shiny _thing_ shoved inside of my elbow. Butterflies- fucking hell, Butterfree- were threatening to fly up from my stomach and out of my damn mouth. "Is- is this really necessary?"

Greasy Toupee nodded sharply. "It was the most efficient way to rehydrate you in a short amount of time while you were unconscious. This way, we'll be able to get you out of here in just a few hours." I shivered, laying back down and looking anywhere but the needle.

If I was getting kicked out in a few hours, where the hell would we go? Back to the Pokemon Center, maybe. Maybe while I was passed out, John had already gotten us a room. Except I doubted that was the case, because he was probably too busy getting lectured by Dr. Greasy Toupee.

Speaking of the guy, he was making his way towards the door, turning back to us when he reached it. "If you'll excuse me, I have other patients to attend to. I'll have someone check in on you soon, but I won't be back until you're ready to be released."

"Right. Uh, thanks then." I wasn't actually too thankful because he'd shoved this metal fucker in my arm. He did kind of revive me from the dead, though. Whatever.

John wished him a quiet thanks as well, and then we were left to ourselves as the door shut behind Greasy Toupee.

He walked over, wobbling as he came, then collapsed in a chair next to me with a heavy huff. "I'm glad you're alive, I guess."

"Wow, you're sweet as ever." It made me smile, because even though he sounded like an asshole, I knew he was an asshole that genuinely cared about my well-being. "So, back to our conversation before. You snag a room at the Center?"

His face shifted into a sheepish expression. "Umm, about that. While you were slumped against the wall passed out, I actually did ask for one. Turns out they're booked a week in advance and pretty expensive. On the bright side though, Ziggy is already all healed up and back in business!"

Screw not shooting the messenger, because I was goddamn pissed. "Good, I'm glad Ziggy's okay. But that aside, what do you mean it's booked a week in advance? It's not a fucking hotel!"

"This one basically is," John muttered, definitely not looking at me on purpose. "People call from their Pokétches way beforehand. Because apparently Pokétches are telephones here, too."

"That's kind of weird, since they were so low tech in the games. I guess they needed their own version of a cell phone."

"Makes sense. I bet they're expensive. You think we'll ever be able to afford a Pokétch?"

I breathed a laugh, because right now we could barely afford to heal our Pokemon, let alone buy something that probably cost as much as an iPhone. "Maybe, like, the day before we go back home. And that's only if we get better at battling." John laughed with me and I thought back to how neither of us could even control our only Pokemon.

When the laughing died down, I continued, "Let's focus on where we're sleeping tonight. Because if we don't figure something out, we're on the street with the stinky hobos."

"Now, I'm sure some hobos are very nice people," said a voice that was distinctly not John's.

Somehow, a tan, giraffe-height guy had opened the door to our room without either of us noticing. He was just chilling there in a set of blue scrubs, leaning against the door frame like he belonged there and totally hadn't been eavesdropping on us. Except he totally had been, and now I wanted to wipe the weird grin right off his face.

"Yeah, and I'll bet they'd mind their own business more than you are right now." If there's wasn't a piece of metal strapped to my arm, you bet I'd be on my feet and in his face right now.

"Easy, there." He chuckled, holding his hands up in surrender. Unlike Greasy Toupee, this guy was wrinkleless and decidedly not greasy. In fact, he only looked a little older than John and I. "I'm just here to check up on you. Doc was worried that you'd pull your IV and book it out of here."

Those butterfrees started flapping around again after that reminder. Stupid fucking needle. "Well, I'm still here. Happy enough to leave us alone?"

He nodded with that stupid grin still plastered on his face, totally unbothered by my rudeness. "I would leave, but I actually wanted to offer you my help."

Oh hell no. The last person that tried to help us ended with me… well, here, in a goddamn hospital bed, less than an hour later. And the one before that had almost killed Ziggy. Nope, nope, nope. We would figure this one out on our own, thank you very much, Mr. Giraffe Dude.

Before I could yell at the guy to get the fuck out, John decided to jump in, probably so I didn't try and get into a verbal fistfight with the dude. "You know a place we can stay? Is it cheap?"

The giraffe dude uncrossed his arms and ambled over to us, carefree and overconfident and all that junk. "Cheap as hell. Free, in fact."

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously, because this place sounded pretty fake. "Are you proposing we take up residence in a homeless shelter or something?"

The guy rolled his eyes, pulling up a chair to sit next to John. "Gosh, no. I'm proposing you take up residence at _my_ residence."

And that's when the alarms in my head screaming fuck no sounded in my head, because this wasn't sweet, motherly Johanna we were dealing with. No, this was snarky Mr. Giraffe Dude who was offering his house to two strangers he'd only just met and _no_.

"You're… not a serial killer, right?" John asked, looking curious but genuinely concerned. I couldn't blame him- I did have a clip knife in my bag, but that probably wouldn't be enough to take out a serial killer. Assuming this guy was one, of course.

The guy crossed his arms again, that filthy smirk back on his face. "Only one way to find out, huh?"

We probably shouldn't have been playing around with anything remotely resembling anything serial killer-esque in a foreign universe. But we did have two Pokemon, my aforementioned knife, and John probably had a box of matches or something. So if he was a serial killer, we could at least escape his house, right? It was better than sleeping on the streets.

"Sounds like you could be one, honestly. But you know what? Free's free."

John's mouth was agape as he looked between the unnamed guy and me, no doubt surprised that I was about to fight this guy two minutes ago and was now agreeing to go home with him. Things change fast when you have like two dollars to your name, you know?

"Fantastic." he beamed, rising from his chair, stretching as if he'd just sealed some important deal. "The name's Matt, if you care. My shift ends in like an hour and it looks like you'll be out of here around the same time. I'll grab you then, okay?"

"Sounds good... Matt." John answered him, looking a little sweaty. He could sweat as much as he wanted, for all I cared. We had somewhere to stay now, serial killer or not.

* * *

"After a definitive study of the contents of this tray, I have determined that hospital is infinitely worse than prison food." Pushing said tray away with my pinky, I sighed when my stomach still continued rumbling. Forget eating this gray mystery meat. I'd rather whore myself out on a street corner to afford a decent meal than eat whatever this was.

John rolled his eyes, leaning further back into his chair. "Again with the prison food talk. Like you even know what that shit tastes like."

With a shrug, I mustered my best poker face. "Depends on if you count holding."

"Angela, we've known each other since we were ten years old. You've never been to any sort of prison… right?" Concern oozed from his eyes and I could barely keep myself from breaking down laughing.

Haha, got 'em. Boy was gullible to a fault, I swear. "Of course not! I mean, no one's ever been able to catch me. And they never will."

"You know, you're sounding like quite the serial killer yourself, at the moment." It was that goddamn giraffe again. On time and just as promised.

"Umm… Angela only checked out like, two minutes ago." John looked as confused as he sounded. He'd jumped straight out of his chair at the additional person. Poor thing.

"Word gets out fast around here. This is a hospital, after all." Matt uncrossed his lanky arms, standing up straight up. It looked like he'd changed from his scrubs to a beat up, brown leather jacket and a pair of just as worn jeans.

"I see," I said, not because I actually understood, but I really wanted to get out of this sterile smelling, white prison. The inside of my elbow throbbed dully where the IV was withdrawn, as did my claw wound, and lastly my toes had regained feeling like an hour ago and now they were throbbing. All that made me antsy to go get some sleep somewhere better than here, so I said, "Lead us to our untimely death, Mr. Serial Killer."

Matt scoffed, smoothing the fringe of his brown bangs back with a hand. "I'm a medical student. That's probably the most opposite occupation of a serial killer, thanks." He turned back to the door, beckoning with a hand to follow us.

I hopped off my lumpy cot and joined John as we trailed behind Matt, neck straining to look up at his head. Damn tall people to hell.

"I thought you looked a little young for a doctor," John reasoned, tapping a finger to his chin. "That'd be like Angela or me being one, being similar in age with us and all. Except the two of us barely passed anatomy class in high school. So, you're probably more qualified, at least." He was doing that rambly thing he tended to do when he was nervous.

We finally made it out of the hospital and onto a busy sidewalk dotted with lit street lamps when Matt responded, "It'll be a while yet until I'm a real doctor, unfortunately. I've got medical school to get through. Probably already would've been done by now if I hadn't taken such a long break after high school."

"How long was the break?" John asked, falling into step with Matt and leaving me trailing behind both of them. I listened as the two of them went at it like friends, oddly enough.

"Four years."

"Holy shit. What did you do with four whole years off?"

I couldn't see Matt's smile, but I sure could hear it in his words. "I traveled all over the world as a trainer with my best friends. Maybe all that time away set me back a few years in the medical field, but I wouldn't trade what we did for the whole world."

Something burned in my chest. It felt hot and sticky and gross, and it was almost as bad as those headaches before. The more I thought about how Matt had probably been to so many regions, battled and befriended so many people, caught so many Pokemon in four years, the worse it burned. I was confined to one region, surrounded by strangers, and given no choice but to track down eighteen elemental plates with no goddamn leads whatsoever. Oh, and find fucking Cresselia. Almost forgot that last part.

"Umm, Angela?"

My fists were clenched, and I was standing still as I looked down at the cracked pavement between my feet. When had that happened?

"Sorry," I said, looking up at the two concerned faces turned back to me. "I guess I'm still feeling a little lightheaded."

"That's normal, it's okay," Matt said in a surprisingly soft tone. "Luckily, my apartment is in the building just past that one. You think you're okay to walk?" He pointed ahead at a modern building that towered above all of the others within at least a mile.

"I'm fine," I replied, snatching my arm away from John who apparently thought it was his place to come to my rescue because I was just a little dizzy.

We walked the last few yards to the building in silence. Every few steps, either John or Matt not-so-discreetly looked back at me to check on my well being. Okay, so faking symptoms probably hadn't been my brightest idea. But at least it was better than admitting I was stressed about saving the world to a complete stranger.

Glass doors slid open when we reached the entrance to reveal a white marble reception and damn, this place was definitely fancier than any Pokemon Center hotel room.

"We'll take the elevator. It's a long way up," Matt said, striding ahead of us both with those too long legs of his.

What Matt had failed to tell us upon offering his living space was the fact that he was pretty much living a life of luxury. How did I know this for sure, aside from fancy marble? Well, there was also a guy in the elevator paid solely to press the fucking floor button for us. And he was dressed in a suit, nose snootily upturned and hair slicked back.

"I thought you were a poor medical student," John muttered, gazing out of the glass elevator window that perfectly captured the setting sun.

Matt chuckled, adjusting the collar of his worn jacket. "I never said poor. I only said medical student."

"The two tend to go hand in hand," I said, agreeing with John, because come on- the guy looked like The Salvation Army threw up on him.

Matt tsked, shaking his head as he led us out of the elevator and down the hallway, stopping at a door about halfway down on the right. It clicked open after he presented his eyes to some super high-tech scanner thingy.

After entering, Matt stripped off his coat, throwing it on a metallic wall hook. "I'd offer to take your coats, but you're wearing short sleeves and you just had frostbite. So you can keep them on, if you'd like." I rolled my eyes as Matt collapsed on a pristine white couch that faced a wall-length window with a goddamn breathtaking view of the Jubilife cityscape.

I sat in a similar chair to Matt's left, John following our lead on a lounge chaise adjacent to me. Silence fell upon us, but it was companionable and not awkward at all, to my surprise. Our collective exhaustion oozed into the atmosphere of the room as we all watched the sunset. The view had me the most relaxed I had been since being dropped in this universe.

Out the corner of my eye, something glinted from the light of the sun.

A simple chain weighed down by a coffin-shaped, silver something hung from Matt's neck. It was that pretty silver thing catching the sun, then. It was pleasant to look at, yet looked nothing like any precious gem on Earth.

"Pretty stone you've got there on your necklace," I said, shocked at myself for giving out a genuine compliment for once. "What's it made out of? Never seen anything like it."

Matt's fingers reached to pet the stone. "Ah, it's one of a kind. Made of polished iron, cut from an ancient relic." A warm smile stretched over his face as he gazed out the window. "It helps me feel just a little closer to God."

I hummed, thinking about how Christians back home commonly wore cross necklaces. "Hmm, that's nice. And who's this god?"

"Arceus, of course."

Coffin shaped. Polished Iron. Ancient relic. Arceus.

There it was, taunting John and me as it dangled from our host's neck.

A piece of the Iron Plate of Arceus.


	7. No more clowning around

Was the Iron Plate really hanging around Matt's neck? If it was, then what the hell was some random medical student doing with it?

"Oh, oh! So your necklace helps… connect you with God. Which is Arceus. That's, umm, pretty cool?" said John next to me, though it sounded more like he was asking a question than giving a compliment.

Matt seemed puzzled at John's response, sinking deeper into the white leather couch with a frown. "You… don't know what Areceism is, do you?"

I decided to follow John by saying. "I, uh… what's...?" Good job, Angela. You're sounding about articulate as usual.

"Can't say I do," John admitted as I shook my head. Was that like, a commonly known thing around here? Because it certainly wasn't in Platinum.

"Incredible," Matt said with a chuckle. "And here I'd thought they still taught you kids about major world religions in school. I guess I'm older than I thought."

I glowered at him because it sounded like he was talking down to us for not knowing about his precious whatever-the-hell. "Well, would you get on with explaining it if it's so important to you?"

"Yeah, yeah," he said dismissively, waving a hand at me. "Arceism is the biggest religion in Sinnoh. We believe that Arceus is the creator of the universe, and the guardian of it too, basically."

John still looked perplexed following Matt's explanation, which I'm sure was purposeful acting at that point. You know, because Matt probably wouldn't believe us if we told him we'd met Arceus a few days ago and had a pleasant chat with him. So, we continued to play our part.

"I'm surprised that I hadn't heard of the religion 'til now, if it's so big and all," John said, eyes still wide in false disbelief. I must say, the boy certainly had brushed up on his acting between Twinleaf and here. I was little proud of him myself.

Matt reached to touch the possible Plate, my eyes watching closely as his fingers grazed it "That's the thing. Arceism may be the biggest religion in Sinnoh, but it's still not exactly popular, nor is any other religion. Not anymore, anyway. Arceism was respected many generations ago, but so few people nowadays are interested in who we are and how we got here. Especially in a big city like this, where everything is science this and technology that."

"But aren't you a med student? That's like, all science and technology." John asked, and I nodded along because he sounded an awful lot like a hypocrite.

"I have no problem with science and technology, really," Matt insisted, waving his hands in front of him. "I just don't think chemicals and numbers can explain everything in the universe. Yes, science is very important for a promising future, but shouldn't we also look to the past? To things like religion? To each their own though, I guess." He finished with a shrug of his shoulders. At least the guy didn't seem too judgemental.

"As much as I'm enjoying your opinions on the importance of religion," That was kind of a lie. I really just wanted him to cut to the part that had to do with Arceus and the plates. "Could you tell us what your necklace has to do with Arceism? I'm kind of curious."

As in, I needed him to tell me if the thing could make Arceus turn steel-type. If so, we'd have to figure out how to steal this thing off of him and get the hell out of here. Not that John was up for stealing anything from anyone, I'd discovered not too long ago. Well, hopefully the impending doom of our universe would help him reconsider this time around.

"Oh, right. About that." He stroked the iron piece fondly. "Like I said, it's cut from an iron relic. I actually dug it up myself from the underground of this region, then had a guy at the Oreburgh Museum check it out to see if it was anything special. He said it was nothing he hadn't seen before. Just an old iron fragment with some illegible ancient language scribbled on it. I'd been hoping it was a shard from an elemental plate, but nope. I should've known the chance of something like that would be pretty damn low."

From the corner of my eye, I saw John shaking his head, resting back against the lounge chaise. So much for stealing one of the plates off this guy. But hey, he probably still knew more about them than the average guy, belonging to his weird Arceus worship cult and all.

Now, it was time to follow John's cue and play dumb. "A plate? What do you mean, you hoped it was a plate?"

"They're an important source of strength to Arceus and all Pokemon. Without getting into too many details you might find boring, I'll say that Arceus made the plates when he created the universe. One plate was made per type of Pokemon, and they allow him to change types and give other Pokemon of that type their elemental powers too. Arceus kept them all by his side as he created all Pokemon, assigning every species an element or two. Then, he scattered the plates across the entirety of Sinnoh before falling into a deep rest."

I narrowed my eyes at him, because damn he just talked for a while. "You sure that's the short version? That was quite the speech."

"Positive." He rolled his eyes at me, and I barely resisted sticking my tongue out at him.

"Ignore her. I'd make an excuse that she's just tired or something, but she's always like this," John said, jabbing a finger into my arm. Umm, ouch. "I think it's a neat legend. Has anyone ever found any of the plates? Or does anyone know where they are?"

Right… I probably should've been focusing more on finding out where they were and less on poking fun at Matt. Whoops.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were trying to find them," Matt said with a grin, eyes glinting.

"I, uh… Of course not!" My brain promptly shut down, because no, there was no way we could let people find out what we were doing. If they did, John and I would find ourselves in a much worse hospital than we were in earlier. One that probably involved padded walls and straight jackets, I thought with a shiver.

"Kidding, kidding." Matt laughed, and I felt a few knots in my shoulders loosening already. Had his comment really gotten me that worried? "Honestly, no one's been dumb enough to try and collect godly relics lately, as far as I know. That, and like I said, people have mostly lost interest in that sort of thing."

Great. So we were back to square one- no leads whatsoever.

"There's only a few little details from various legends about where the plates are- all of them point to them still being scattered across Sinnoh. And of course, each is supposed to be protected by a guardian- probably a Pokemon, or maybe even a human- because no one wants the plates to fall into the wrong hands."

John and I exchanged a pained look, because are you fucking kidding me? We had to find all these things and defeat or escape whatever thing was protecting them?

"And apparently, they're mostly located in places that make sense for the type. You know, like the Stone Plate in a cave or the Splash Plate at the beach."

Okay, now we were getting somewhere. Sort of.

"But that's all there is to know about where the plates could be. And trust me, I did a lot of internet surfing just to find out that much." Matt swiveled from a sitting position to a laying one, his giraffe legs dangling over the arm of the couch. "That's all the info I've got for you kids. I'm taking a nap, it's been a rough day. You wouldn't believe it, this one patient even accused me of being a serial killer."

"Excuse you, you're the creep who invited us here without even knowing-"

Matt cut me off, ignoring that I'd even been speaking at all. What an asshole. "Guest room's the first one on the right down that hallway. And there's probably some cold pizza in the fridge. Eat it, don't eat it, I could care less. Go occupy yourselves with something that won't land you in the hospital again."

Rolling my eyes for the umpteenth time, I dragged my ass off the chair and over to the fridge, because damn did refusing to eat that nasty hospital food leave me starving for something, anything palatable.

And if I was just a little thankful for Matt's random generosity in the form of a roof over my head and cold pizza, well, no one had to know.

* * *

When I woke up the next day, my eyes were assaulted by lights that were most definitely not the first lights of dawn.

"John…" I growled, thinking back to last night when I told him to wake me up early.

My eyes landed first on the wall clock across from my bed, and it read 11:36 AM. Then, I found a piece of paper on the bedside table next to me, undoubtedly a note written by John- I could tell by the loopy handwriting that was undoubtedly neater than mine would ever be.

 _Angela,_

 _I know you wanted to get up early and train on the route with me, but you looked pale as hell when I woke up. So, I made the executive decision to let you sleep in. Not that you should be training Cress in the first place when she was literally born yesterday. I should be back around noon, so I'll see you soon._

 _-Your Favorite Pokemon Master_

With an eye roll, I jumped out of bed, grabbed Cress's Pokeball, and stumbled into the kitchen. Maybe there'd be something to eat other than cold Pizza.

What I didn't expect to find in Matt's kitchen was a maroon crocodile sitting on a stool at the kitchen bar as Matt nonchalantly cooked at the stove. He even seemed to be talking to said crocodile, as it nodded along to his words.

"Umm, what the…" I stuttered, backpedaling a step. I'd never seen a crocodile in real life, and meeting one in person hadn't exactly been one of my life goals.

Matt turned from whatever he was cooking with a smirk, "Wow, I'm glad to see that the zombie has finally risen from the dead! I take it you haven't met my good friend Krookodile till now, huh?"

"You haven't exactly introduced us," I huffed, crossing my arms and looking in any direction other than the scaley beast.

"Well, don't be shy!" Matt said, turning back to flip whatever was in his pan, "Sit on down, food will be ready soon. I was already searing some Finneon for Krookodile."

"Oh, okay. Thanks…" In this weird situation, I couldn't even find it in myself to be my usual sarcastic self. I was without John, who typically served as my social crutch, in a stranger's kitchen, about to eat a Pokemon for lunch with another Pokemon. What the hell was I supposed to do?

I could see Matt's smirk change into an actual smile. "I'm surprised that you're actually willing to eat Finneon. I offered to cook some for John earlier this morning, but he turned as white as a Litwick, then rushed out the door."

"Oh?" I didn't remember John being a vegetarian, but then again, I could see why John would refuse eating a Pokemon versus, say, a chicken. I guess he'd feel weird eating a Pokemon now that he was training them. In my eyes though, I was starving, and I really didn't think a few Wepear berries could compare to a meal of freshly cooked fish.

Speaking of Pokemon, I decided to finally take a seat on a stool next to the Krookodile. It turned its long crocodile face towards me, holding out a scaly hand. Or was it a claw? I wasn't quite sure, and I didn't really care. I was much more concerned that this thing's claws could tear me apart in a second- claw, paw, or whatever else it was.

"Go ahead, shake give him a good shake. I swear he's friendly! You know, it's not like he's gonna bite," Matt said with a smirk, moving to turn up a knob on the stove.

I hesitantly reached out and gave him a limp shake, shivering internally at the texture of cool scales on my skin. Luckily, Krookodile found my handshake to be adequate. He gave me a nod before turning back in the direction of his owner. You know what? Maybe reptile Pokemon just weren't for me.

"So… where'd you get the Krookodile?" I asked, hoping some casual chit chat would calm me down.

Matt flipped the fish with a spatula before saying, "A desert in Unova."

"Oh, the Desert Resort?" I said absentmindedly. I'd never trained a Pokemon from the Krookodile line, but I knew they were pretty strong. I also knew Sandiles would never leave me the hell alone in the desert resort, attacking me probably every five steps.

Matt turned his head towards me, one eyebrow raised in disbelief. "You know the desert resort? Have you ever been?"

Fuck, I'd slipped up again. There's no way a Sinnohan would know some obscure place in Unova. "Me and John are actually from Unova. Never been the Desert Resort before, though. Nope."

"No wonder you're both wearing shorts," Matt laughed, obviously much more relaxed and friendly when I wasn't accusing him of murder. "I take it you're both on vacation?"

This was the part where I had to lie well. Come on Angela, you're a badass bitch! You can do this! "We're actually… well, we're not exactly vacation. I don't really know what we're doing yet. Training Pokemon and trying to find ourselves, I guess."

"That's why I went to Unova," Matt said, smiling softly. "You and John should try the gym challenge. That definitely helped me out a lot."

Yes, he bought it! I wanted to fist pump, but that really wouldn't fit here. "I'll think about it." Did I mention that there was really nothing to think about? We really didn't have time to do the gym challenge, and I was kind of okay with that, given my current affinity with battling.

Aside from Matt humming a tune unfamiliar to me, we sat in companionable silence until he finished up lunch. "You should let out your Pokemon if you have any. There's plenty of fish and Lum berries here."

"Oh, sure. Thanks." I still wasn't used to having a travel companion that I had to care for, so I was thankful for Matt's reminder. Taking the minimized Poke Ball out of my pants pocket, I silently prayed that Cres would behave as I released her.

She appeared on the floor next to my chair, automatically waving her little arms and smiling. It warmed my heart to see such a happy Pokemon. "Hey there, Cres," I said picking her up off of the floor and plopping her on the stool next to me. "That guy over there is making us lunch. I hope you like fish."

I took the excited crackling in my mind as approval from Cress, so I gave her a smile and a nod before going back to watching Matt cook.

After Matt finished untying his apron, he set a plate of fish and a few chopped green berries in front of me, Krookodile, and Cres.

"Dig in!" Matt said, taking a seat himself next to his Krookodile.

Carefully, I took a small bite of the fish. It tasted like, well, fish… some pretty good fish, in fact. And from the looks of how fast Cres was eating, she must've liked it too.

Halfway through our meal, I was startled out of my food trance by the apartment front door swinging open, and with a groan, I heard a muffled thump and a groan. When I turned to see what caused the noise, I found an exhausted John slumped face down on the living room couch, an equally tired looking Ziggy draped across his back.

Grumpy that my meal had been interrupted, I set down my fork and addressed John. "And what exactly was the point of your dramatic entrance?"

Rolling over so he was no longer face down, John moaned, "I've been training and battling since sunrise, that's why!" With a smirk, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a few bills. "And it was totally worth it!"

"Shit, is that prize money?" I said, my mood snapping to delight.

"You bet it is! Ang, we're going clothes shopping!"

Ralts squealed in delight, probably not understanding what we were saying, but definitely enjoying the light mood in the room. I shoveled the rest of the Finneon on my plate into my mouth, and rushed to strap on my sandals, practically tripping over myself. Ralts trailed after me as I rushed between the guest room back to the kitchen.

"Wow, that's the fastest I've ever seen you move," John said, now in a sitting position, eyebrows raised almost off his face. "You ready?"

"Yep!" I jogged over to the couch, pulling at his arm. "Let's go, lazy ass! I want to switch out these sandals for some shiny new boots!"

John was shaking his head, but got up, and returned a half asleep Ziggy to his Poke Ball. "Okay, okay."

"Before you go, I have some food for John," Matt called over to us, holding up a brown paper bag in the kitchen.

John approached him hesitantly, probably afraid that Matt would try and feed him fish again. "Please tell me it's not a dead Finneon in a bag."

Matt laughed loudly, and I covered my mouth with a hand to smother my own. "No, but I should do that next time." John interrupted Matt with a glare. "Anyway, It's a Lum Berry and mixed nut salad. I even put some dressing in there."

"Wow, thank you," John said, tucking the paper bag into his drawstring bag.

"You're very welcome," Matt said, all nice and sincere in a way I seriously wasn't used to. "Be safe out there, and if you're hungry later, come back for dinner. Sunday's my day off, so I'll be cooking."

"We'll be back by the evening for sure then, see ya!" John called back. After I returned a still smiling Cres to her ball, John grabbed my forearm and wrenched me out of the door.

* * *

"How the hell did you find such fancy clothes in a thrift shop?!" I whisper-yelled at John as we made our way over to the cash register. He was wearing a full face grin as he showed me every extremely cheap yet fashionable item he picked out.

"Angela, you know I've always been a bargain hunter! Besides, how could I pass up this coat for only 1000 Poke?"

"It is a nice coat," The cashier admitted lazily, cracking the gum in her mouth, as the two of us dumped our pile of clothes on the cashwrap. Whatever, I was perfectly content with this lightly stained, mustard yellow, corduroy sweatshirt. Well, sort of. It'd do the job, at least.

After a few minutes of beeping as the cashier scanned each item, she looked up at the two of us and drawled, "That'll be 8,000 Poke."

"Uh, we only have 6,000." John mumbled, his eyes immediately darting to mine.

"I guess you gotta put some clothes back," I said, shaking my head. He just had to go for the fancy, probably more expensive thrift shop clothes.

"No way," He said, clutching a tan knit scarf. "This is only 99 Poke! "

Right as I was about to yell back that his cheap as hell scarf wasn't the problem, the cashier sighed and rolled her eyes, deciding now was a good time to interrupt our bickering. "If the clothes on your back are the only ones you own, which I'm gonna take a wild guess and say they are from the looks of you two, then you can donate them to the store and give me all your money, and we'll call it even."

"Sure, it's not like we need these clothes anyway." I shrugged, gathering the outfit I picked out in my arms again. "Where should we change?"

The cashier hooked her thumb towards the back of the store, "There's some dressing rooms back there. Just drop your old clothes here when you're done, I guess."

"Cool, thanks." John said with a nod, dropping all of our savings in the girl's hand. So much for actually having money for once.

After changing into our new clothes that decidedly smelled like venmothballs and old lady perfume, we dumped our old clothes on the cashwrap and made our way back into the cold Jubilife air.

"So," John began, walking back in the direction of what I think was Matt's apartment, "What should we do for the rest of the day?"

"How about we sit down and try and plan out where we go from here? We've just kind of been wandering Southwest Sinnoh since we got here." I said, motioning to a rickety bench on the side of the road. John regarded it with a grimace, but sat down anyway, and I followed suit.

"I mean, if we're following the plot of Platinum, we'd be heading to Oreburgh next," John said, looking up as if he saw the answers to all our problems in the midafternoon sky.

"Hmm," I hummed, tapping at my chin. "I guess, but we're not here to do the gym challenge. We're here to get the plates and Cresselia, then leave."

John puffed out his cheeks, his eyebrows scrunching. "But what about doing the gym challenge? It's part of the whole Sinnoh experience!"

I rolled my eyes in response. "John," I began, with a sigh, "we don't have the luxury of time to get the _Sinnoh experience_. In fact, we don't have the luxury of literally anything right now. We just sold the clothes off our backs to a thrift store for ratty clothes from probably the the 90's."

John dropped his head to his lap dramatically. "Ugh, fine. But if we're passing through a town with a gym and have some time, can we at least try?"

" _You_ can try. I'm not getting involved with any of that badge bullshit, I don't need a case of metal to prove my worth," I said, crossing my arms. "But anyway, back to our original topic. I think our best bet is to head to Canalave next."

John up picked his head up, and looking at me curiously. "Why Canalave? Oreburgh and Floaroma are gateways to the rest of Sinnoh. Why would you want to go to a port city that's barely connected to the rest of the region?"

"I actually thought about this a lot last night," I said, pulling my legs onto the bench and hugging my knees. "First of all, I don't think either of us are ready for the Eterna Forest, which is a sprawling goddamn maze, and just a little north of Floaroma."

John shivered and said, "True, no thank you. And there's also that cave right before Floaroma. I don't know if we could get through that either, after how long it took to get to Jubilife, and the way here was pretty straightforward."

"Exactly," I said with a nod. "And I think getting through the cave before Oreburgh will be similarly challenging."

"That's true, but how are we going to get across the water from here to Canalave? It's not like we have a Mantine to ride on," John said, giving me an inquisitive glance.

"Beats me," I said with a shrug. "Maybe it's short enough to swim."

"You've gotta be kidding me," John said, slumping back against the bench, only to jump a little when it gave a loud creak.

"I am," I said, "Half joking, at least. We'll figure it out when we finally leave. But anyway, the real reason I want to go to Canalave is because it's one of the most valuable locations in all of Sinnoh to us."

"And why's that?" John said, shifting his knees to face me.

"Well, first there's the library. Maybe we can find out more about this whole situation. About Cresselia, Darkrai, and Arceus. Next, in the games there's a ferry to Full Moon, New Moon, and Iron Island. Literally all three of those islands have potential for getting what we need."

"Why's Iron Island so important? I get the other two, but…" John said, scratching his head.

"Well, what Matt said before about the plates being related to their locations got me thinking. Iron Island is full of metal, right? Well, maybe the steel type plate is there." I said with a confident smile. I wasn't so sure it was the right answer, but it was definitely a start.

Folding his arms back behind his head, John admitted, "Well, that's actually got some promise. I'm feeling less worried already."

"Don't even, we still have so much…" I trailed off when I noticed something just a little out of place in front of me.

A fat, freaky clown dressed in a puffy yellow, outfit. Oh, and did I mention it was staring down with a big fucking grin?

"Uh, hi there…" John said, instinctively leaning back into unstable bench, probably trying to get the hell away. I was pretty much in the same boat.

"Why, hello there friend!" The clown practically shouted, still grinning widely.

"Yes, hi. Now, what is it exactly that you want, clownface?" I said, glaring right into the freak's beady eyes. I may not have been afraid of him, but that didn't mean that I liked him.

The clown's face shifted to dramatically hurt in a single second as he said, "That's no way to address your new friend!"

"She, umm, didn't mean it," John said, waving his hands in front of him. "Anyway, how can we help you Mr. Clown?"

Mr. Clown's face snapped right back to cheerful at John's words. "I don't want you to help me. Why, I want to help the two of you!"

"With what?" I said, my eyes narrowing.

"Thank you for asking, Miss!" My eye twitched, and Mr. Clown leaned in closer to me. "It just so happens that if you take this quiz that I have for you, you can both win two brand new Poketches!"

After he finished yelling at us yet again, he dug two shiny, metallic watch things out of his pockets that actually looked exactly like a Platinum-style Poketch. Except instead of red or blue, one was a plain metallic silver, and the other was teal.

John and I shared a glance, both acknowledging that this was weird as hell, but then I realized that this was pretty much the exact way that you got a Poketch in the real game. Damn, could this freaky clown guy be making us a legitimate offer?

"What's the harm in a little quiz? Free Poketches, Ang!" John whispered to me, and I sighed, but couldn't disagree with him. If it was a part of the game, it probably was safe.

Louder this time, John said, "What's the harm in a little quiz? Sure, we'll play!"

"Fantastic!" The clown said, clapping his hands together. "If you get all three questions correct, then these Poketches are yours. First question! Do Pokemon grow in strength by defeating other Pokemon?"

John gave him a funny look, and said, "Umm, yes?"

"Yes, that's right!" I gave the clown a funny look as well, because that was a little too easy. Whatever, a free Poketch was a free Poketch.

"Next question. Can you have a Pokemon wear an item in battle to help it out?"

I decided to answer the too-easy question this time, "That one's also a yes."

"Terrific!" The clown yelled, throwing his hands into the air. Ugh, I just wanted to get this over with. "Final question. Like Pokemon, do moves have types?"

"Yes, they do." John said, looking oddly nervous. I guess he really wanted his fancy watch.

"That's completely correct!" The clown proceeded to do a little victory dance, and boy did I really just want to take our Poketches and get out of here. "Just one last thing before I give these to you. It's part of a questionnaire by the city of Jubilife, for Pokemon diversity purposes. What Pokemon do you two own?"

"I've got a newly hatched Ralts, and he has a Starly. Anyway, can we just have our Poketches?" I said, holding out my hand like an impatient asshole. Honestly, if I didn't get away from this guy soon, I was probably going to punch the grin off his stupid clown face.

"Of course, of course!" Clownface said, scribbling the Pokemon we had in a little notebook. "Okay, here are your prizes! Have a great day, kids!" For some reason, the clown then shoved both Poketches into John's hands and ran away as fast as he could.

"Umm… okay then," John said, scratching his head. "That was weird, but at least we have these now. Which do you want?"

Pointing at the purple Poketch, I said, "I'll take that one."

"Oh good, I wanted the other one anyway," John admitted, as we both wrapped our new watches around our wrists.

It seemed to already be turned on and fully functional, displaying the time as 3:14PM. "Wow, it looks like it's already been loaded with a bunch of apps. This is the luckiest we've been since getting to Sinnoh, huh?"

"You bet," John said, smiling down at his new watch as he fiddled with the display. "How about we head back to Matt's apartment so we can eat and rest? I know we should probably leave town tomorrow, so we should probably go to bed early."

Jumping up from the bench, I agreed. "Sure, I'm ready to head back."

John hopped up too, but grabbed my shoulder before I could start walking. "How about we let our Ziggy and Cres? We can all walk together and work up an appetite for dinner!"

I shrugged, still kind of nervous that Cres would do something crazy like on that fateful night she was born. But John was right, fresh air probably was good for her. "Yeah, I guess so." I pulled the Poke Ball out of my pocket, and let her out.

As usual she seemed very excited to be out and about, making an adorable little humming noise that crackled at the inside of my brain. Luckily, it wasn't giving me a headache at the moment. "Wanna walk with us back to Matt's apartment?" She nodded vigorously, and I immediately felt guilty about not wanting to let her out in the first place.

After John let out Ziggy and got him to stop pecking at his hands, we set off to Matt's apartment with Ziggy on John's shoulder and Cres trailing by my side. As we went, I fiddled with my Poketch, and John cooed at Ziggy. Walking together with our Pokemon, just enjoying the city noise and each felt refreshingly uneventful, and I seriously hoped our trip to Canalave would be this calm.

About ten minutes into our walk, I started getting the slightest of headaches, Cres's psychic noises sounded shrill and panicked in my head. Sighing, I looked down at Cres to see her almost tripping over her dress.

"Wait a sec, John," I said, kneeling down and patting Cres. "What is it? Do you not like being around so many people?" I figured it must be that, because this place was as crowded as New York City.

Cress shook her helmet-head, and turned in the direction of the street. When I looked in the same direction, on the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street, I saw a freak in what looked like a silver space suit leaning against a light pole, staring us down. I casually turned back around, not wanting to give away that I saw him.

"John, I said in almost a whisper, leaning into him, "I think someone is watching us across the street, and they're dressed really weird."

John raised a curious brow, looking skeptical. "I doubt it, Ang. The guy's probably just people watching or something."

"Umm, okay… I guess he could be. Let's keep going. Just to be safe though, can we turn left at the next intersection? I think it'll be faster anyway." I said, because Cres was a scared baby  
Pokemon, so who knew what she was really upset about. It could be anything, not necessarily some creepy guy staring at us. Either way, just to make her feel a little better, I kneeled down and scooped her into my arms before we continued on. That seemed to calm her down a little.

"Sure, why not," John said with a nod. Without another word, we turned down the next street.

The calm only lasted a few minutes, until a guy dressed in the same space suit as the other weirdo appeared a few yards in front of us, leaning against a building with a smirk. Unlike the last street, this one was completely barren of people, and looked to be in the seedier part of town. Boy, did I love making great decisions in unfamiliar cities.

"Do you see him? He's dressed the same as that other freak I saw before, and something tells me he's not a nice guy." I muttered, stopping completely, because there was definitely something off about this guy. Not to mention Cres was practically screaming in my mind now, and boy did it fucking hurt.

"Umm, Ang, why didn't you mention that he was dressed like _that_?" John said, looking absolutely terrified.

"Did you not hear me when I said he was dressed weird before?! Tell me you didn't even bother to look at the last weirdo," I whisper yelled, turning to John. "Now come on, let's cross the street and get away from here. I have a bad feeling about him."

"That won't be necessary," said a new voice. A voice attached to a body that was now directly in front of us, dressed in a shiny silver space suit, with big yellow "G" smack in the middle of his chest.

"No, it certainly won't," said another new, yet familiar voice, directly into my ear. "Remember me?"

Then, I felt the pressure of something cold and sharp against the front of my neck. Cres squeaked in my arms, squirming as she tried to get free. I shushed her, squeezing tight.

John spun around to face the voice behind us. I would've done the same if well, you know, there wasn't a fucking knife digging into my neck.

"You… you're the clown…" John said in awe, and now I knew exactly why the voice was so familiar, and why the _fuck_ did we think taking a fancy watch from a stranger was a good idea?

The man's grip tightened and the blade scratched at my neck. I could feel a single drop dribbling down. "Don't move an inch," he whispered. "And don't you dare scream."

"I won't," I whispered, frozen in fear, my mind running a mile a minute.

The guy standing in front of me crossed arms and said, "Good. Now, hand over your Pokemon, and we won't hurt you."

Neither John nor me spoke, nor did we make a single move. We both had a mutual understanding that there was no way in hell that we were handing these guys over without a fight. But could we really fight back when I was in such a position? I didn't really know, but at the very least I wasn't handing over my only Pokemon after a single demand.

After a few seconds of silence, the knife dug deeper, and I bit down a scream as a small stream of warm liquid dripped down my neck. "No fucking way," I growled.

The man in front of me drew closer until I could hear him breathing, and I looked him straight in the eyes, contemplating if I wanted to spit in his face. A twisted smile crossed his features as he tilted my chin up with a finger. "You'll do as we say, or you'll face the consequences."

"No, you're going to be the one who faces the consequences." Said a third female voice, coming from behind us all. What was up with all these unfamiliar people appearing out of the woodwork?

The clown's grip on me loosened at those words, and I took that as my cue to tear out of his grip, his knife clattering to the ground. And good thing that I tore away when I did, because at that moment, all I could see was a stream of fire as it smacked into the man who'd just been holding me.

"HEY! You almost hit me, too!" I yelled directing my gaze from my captor to my savior.

"Whatever, you can thank me later," said the girl, who I could now identify as a young woman about my age. A young woman with slate gray hair, dressed in a red jacket and pink snow boots, standing next to an enthusiastic Chimchar.

Wait a second.

John stepped next to me, saying the exact words in my mind.

"Are you Dawn?"


End file.
